Immigration, rights and democracy
Immigration, rights and democracy
Arash Abizadeh has recently argued that political communities have no right to close their borders unilaterally, since by doing so they subject outsiders to coercion which lacks democratic justification. His conclusion is that any legitimate regime of border controls must be justified to outsiders. David Miller has sought to defend closed borders by distinguishing between coercion and prevention and arguing that the latter does not require democratic justification. This paper explores a different route, arguing firstly that the requirements of democracy do not provide us with practical guidance unless we also consider other values, such as rights, and secondly that being subject to coercion does not entitle one to democratic justification. These arguments suggest that Abizadeh is wrong to hold closed borders in need of democratic justification.
58-77
Saunders, Ben
aed7ba9f-f519-4bbf-a554-db25b684037d
Knight, Carl
2b211992-d2ea-43be-814a-7bc7c158ccfe
1 December 2011
Saunders, Ben
aed7ba9f-f519-4bbf-a554-db25b684037d
Knight, Carl
2b211992-d2ea-43be-814a-7bc7c158ccfe
Saunders, Ben
,
Knight, Carl
(ed.)
(2011)
Immigration, rights and democracy.
[in special issue: Special Obligations, Rights and National Responsibility]
Theoria, 58 (129), .
(doi:10.3167/th.2011.5812905).
Abstract
Arash Abizadeh has recently argued that political communities have no right to close their borders unilaterally, since by doing so they subject outsiders to coercion which lacks democratic justification. His conclusion is that any legitimate regime of border controls must be justified to outsiders. David Miller has sought to defend closed borders by distinguishing between coercion and prevention and arguing that the latter does not require democratic justification. This paper explores a different route, arguing firstly that the requirements of democracy do not provide us with practical guidance unless we also consider other values, such as rights, and secondly that being subject to coercion does not entitle one to democratic justification. These arguments suggest that Abizadeh is wrong to hold closed borders in need of democratic justification.
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Published date: 1 December 2011
Organisations:
Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences
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Local EPrints ID: 370310
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/370310
ISSN: 0040-5817
PURE UUID: 7c9c788f-6e00-4b7b-ac3c-4ff1877b589d
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Date deposited: 21 Oct 2014 14:30
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:50
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Carl Knight
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