On the Relationship between Normative Claims and Empirical Realities in Immigration

What is and what ought to be the relationship between empirical research and normative analysis with respect to migration policies? The paper addresses this question from the perspective of political theory, asking about the place of empirical research in philosophical discussions of migration, and, for the most part, leaving to others questions about what role, if any, normative considerations do and should play in empirical research on migration. At the outset the paper also takes note of one important way in which empirical research can and should contribute to normative discussions of migration, quite apart from its role in contributing to political philosophy. DOI: 10.17879/15199614880

Democracy and Respect for Difference: The Case of Fiji

In what follows, I will first offer a capsule history of Fiji. I then will identify some of the moral questions that emerge, both for the inhabitants of Fiji and for us as observers. I will present some tentative answers to these moral questions, reflecting as I go on what this tells us about the possibilities and limits of normative theory, but also trying to note where my normative judgments rest upon features of the story that I think others would want to contest and trying to indicate how alternative readings of the history would affect the normative judgments, if at all. In general, I feel more confident about the importance of the questions I am asking than about the accuracy of my answers, more certain about the inadequacy of theories that do not take these issues into account than about the adequacy of my own theory. I will try to keep that sense in view as I proceed

Immigration and Integration in Canada

Like Australia and the United States, Canada is usually considered a ‘traditional’ immigrant receiving country in contrast to many countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa where large-scale immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon. This chapter reviews past and current Canadian immigration policy. Section one provides a brief historical overview of Canadian immigration patterns. Section two outlines current immigration policy, including the changes introduced by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (2002). Section three discusses the relationship between immigration policy and the integration of immigrants in Canadian society. The chapter concludes with the proposition that, while Canada’s immigration policy converges with developments in other countries worldwide, its immigration experience also poses a challenge for those scholars who postulate a strong inverse relation between higher immigration rates and an advanced welfare state. Differences also include increased recognition rates for asylum claimants as well as the comparatively lower focus on immigration as a subject of public debate in Canadian political culture

Inmigración y justicia:¿A quién dejamos pasar?

This paper provides an overview of what justice requires with respect to the admission of immigrants in Europe and North America given two general assumptions: a general right of states to control immigration and a commitment to liberal democratic principles. The paper argues that states are morally constrained in the sorts of criteria they can use to exclude and select immigrants. In particular, they normally cannot use racial or ethnic criteria in selection. Furthermore, states have an obligation to admit as immigrants the immediate relatives (spouse and minor children) or current and permanent residents and an obligation to accept refugees who apply for asylum.Este artículo quiere ofrecer una visión general de lo que la justicia demanda respecto a la admisión de inmigrantes en Europa y en América del Norte si se aceptan dos presupuestos generales: un derecho general de los Estados a controlar la inmigración y el compromiso con los principios liberal-democráticos. El artículo argumenta que los Estados están moralmente constreñidos en cuanto a los tipos de criterios que pueden utilizar para excluir y seleccionar inmigrantes. En particular, normalmente no pueden utilizar criterios raciales o étnicos en la selección. Más aún, los Estados tienen la obligación de admitir como inmigrantes a los parientes cercanos (esposa e hijos menores de edad), o a los ya ciudadanos, a los residentes permanentes y tienen la obligación de aceptar a los refugiados que solicitan asilo

Ethnocentric political theory, secularism and multiculturalism

First published online: 16 June 202

Revisiting Contextualism in Political Theory: Putting Principles into Context

© 2017, Springer Nature B.V. In this article, we articulate and defend a contextual approach to political theory. According to what we shall call ‘iterative contextualism’, context has two important roles to play in determining what is required by justice. First, it is through the exploration and evaluation of multiple contexts that general principles are devised, revised and refined. Second, significant weight should be given to the norms to be found in specific contexts because the people affected by those norms strongly identify with them. Having said this, the application of general principles to particular contexts may still result in recommendations which deviate to some degree from the prevailing norms. In this case, we shall argue thatalthough justice requires something other than what local norms say, what is required is likely to be intimated by the relevant context. Thus, whilst considerations of identification act as significant constraints on iterative contextualists’ thinking, the idea of intimations provides them with an important resource

Locating the post-national activist:Migration rights, civil society and the practice of post-nationalism

Theorists of post-nationalism examine the (re)configuration of national identity, membership and rights. Yet while normative scholarship has conceptualized post-nationalism as an ongoing practice of discursive contestation over the role of national group membership in liberal democratic societies, more empirical studies have tended to overlook these features to predominantly focus instead on top-down legal and political institution-building as evidence of post-nationalism. In this article I argue in favour of an empirical conceptualization of post-nationalism which more effectively captures micro-level practices of discursive contestation. Specifically I posit that post-national activists, or actors engaging in post-national practices of contestation from within the state, are a key focus of analysis for scholars of post-nationalism. I develop this claim through the analysis of data collected with individuals working on civil society campaigns for migration rights in Europe, Australia and the USA who–I demonstrate–embody many of the characteristics of the post-national activist

Distribution and Emergency

Streaming video requires RealPlayer to view.The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.Humanitarian organizations divide their work into two categories: development aid that improves underlying conditions, and emergency aid, given in response to a natural or manmade disaster. However, Jennifer Rubenstein, a fellow at Princeton University, questioned this distinction. While it might have logistical advantages, she argued, it does not suit the variety of situations and populations requiring aid.Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security StudiesEvent webpage, streaming video, photos, power point presentation, and lecture summar

Friends or foes? migrants and sub-state nationalists in Europe

How do sub-state nationalists respond to the growing presence of cultural diversity in their ‘homelands’ resulting from migration? Sub-state nationalists in Europe, in ‘nations without states’ such as Catalonia and Scotland, have been challenging the traditional nation-state model for many decades. While the arguments in favour of autonomy or independence levelled by these movements have become more complex, sub-state nationalist movements remain grounded by their perceived national community that is distinct from the majority nation. Migration to the ‘homeland’ of a sub-state nation, then, presents a conundrum for sub-state elites that we label the ‘legitimation paradox’: too much internal diversity may undermine the claim to cultural distinctiveness. We engage with three common intervening variables thought to influence how sub-state nationalists confront the ‘legitimation paradox’: civic/ethnic nationalism, degree of political autonomy, and party competition. Our overarching argument is that none of these factors have a unidirectional or determinate effect on the sub-state nationalism-immigration nexus, which is why the nuanced case studies that comprise this Special Issue are worthwhile endeavours

Reflections on a crisis: political disenchantment, moral desolation, and political integrity

Declining levels of political trust and voter turnout, the shift towards populist politics marked by appeals to ‘the people’ and a rejection of ‘politics-as-usual’, are just some of the commonly cited manifestations of our culture of political disaffection. Democratic politics, it is argued, is in crisis. Whilst considerable energy has been expended on the task of lamenting the status of our politics and pondering over recommendations to tackle this perceived crisis, amid this raft of complaints and solutions lurks confusion. This paper seeks to explore the neglected question of what the precise nature of the crisis with which we are confronted involves, and, in so doing, to go some way towards untangling our confusion. Taking my cue from Machiavelli and his value-pluralist heirs, I argue that there is a rift between a morally admirable and a virtuous political life. Failure to appreciate this possibility causes narrations of crisis to misconstrue the moral messiness of politics in ways that lead us to misunderstand how we should respond to disenchantment. Specifically, I suggest that: (i) we think that there is a moral crisis in politics because we have an unsatisfactorily idealistic understanding of political integrity in the first place; and (ii) it is a mistake to imagine that the moral purification of politics is possible or desirable. Put simply, our crisis is not moral per se but primarily philosophical in nature: it relates to the very concepts we employ—the qualities of character and context we presuppose whilst pondering over political integrity