37

Female circumcision, wearing the veil, ritual slaughters: beyond the diversity of their ethical issues, these acts raise a common problem , namely cultural difference. The intent of these acts is not so much to violate the rule of law, but to claim application of another law or custom. The underlying problem is the articulation of common values and cultural diversity, the construction of “living together.” For this, there are two legal processes. The first is linked to the monopoly on legitimate violence and focuses on common values. It relies on trials and law. The second process emphasizes diversity. While the right to difference is now taken more fully into account, the institutionalization of differences could be seedbeds of inequality. Thus, there is the need of an alternative model involving a change of approach and scale.