The Limits of Tolerance from the Perspective of Their Public Legitimization

The limits of tolerance are discussed in this article with regard to the status of religious, ethnic, and national minorities in liberal-democratic societies. The question that the author is trying to answer is this: how can minority policies be designed in such a way that they provide the due conditions for the reproduction of minority identities over time which, at the same time, do not compromise national integrity. The line of demarcation between these two kinds of policy would also be the limit of tolerance, concerning the role of these identities in society. In the first part of the article a critical analysis is made of the policy of cultural neutrality of the state, based on the differentiation between the approaches to minority issues in the public and in the private life of the citizens. In the second part an alternative possible solution is presented―to draw the limits of tolerance by means of the legitimization of minority policies via public communication which is protected from manipulations by means of the methodology of public deliberation.