ETHNIC-MINORITIES AND THE CASE FOR COLLECTIVE RIGHTS

This essay reviews current debates in philosophical liberalism and int ernational law concerning ''collective'' or group rights and argues th at., under certain circumstances, they should be recognized as a means of protecting and preserving ethnic minority cultures from various ac tions and policies pursued by the states in which they reside. A class ification of different ethnic minorities and the rights that adhere to them are suggested. Anthropologists are urged to address rights issue s in their writings and provide the ethnographic grounding that is oft en lacking in discourses on collective rights.