Migration and the Point of Self-Determination.
Many philosophers argue that the right of self-determination confers to states a right to exclude would-be migrants. Drawing on the case of anti-colonial struggles of the twentieth century, I argue that self-determination should be thought of as fundamentally a claim against intergroup hierarchy. Th...
| Published in: | Social Theory & Practice Vol. 51; no. 4; pp. 581 - 603 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Florida State University
Oct2025
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| Summary: | Many philosophers argue that the right of self-determination confers to states a right to exclude would-be migrants. Drawing on the case of anti-colonial struggles of the twentieth century, I argue that self-determination should be thought of as fundamentally a claim against intergroup hierarchy. This means that selfdetermination only grants a right to exclude in cases where immigration poses a genuine oppressive threat. Cases involving immigration into wealthy and powerful states rarely meet this criterion, and so talk of self-determination as grounding a right to exclude in such cases is misguided. |
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