The Political Theory of Emigration

Abstract

The idea that persons have an unrestricted right to emigration has been taken for granted by liberal political theory as well as international human rights law. Recent discussions on international brain drain, however, have brought to light an inherent tension between the needs of source populations and the freedom of the emigrating individuals. Are states ever justified in restricting emigration? There are two important dimensions of the debate. First, on what grounds can emigration restrictions be justified? Can poor states with insufficient labor supplies for producing basic social goods, such as education or health care, restrict emigration? Or those that are unable to support fundamental autonomy enhancing institutions? Second, by what means may states restrict or constrain emigration? Which policy measures can states adopt while still allowing for autonomous life-choices of their members? Kieran Oberman argues that the view, according to which people have a human right to emigrate but no human right to immigrate, is logically coherent, but indefeasible. Christine Straehle argues that the institutional account, according to which professionals have a duty of social justice to support autonomy enhancing institutions, does not provide sufficient grounds to justify emigration restrictions. Lucas Stanczyk argues that economic and social institutions that in effect get able people to do things for centrally important social purposes are requirements of any plausible theory of social justice and argues for a systematic theory to advance the policy discussion on emigration. Eszter Kollar argues that internal standards of basic justice as well as external constraints of human rights may provide the state with presumptive reasons to place conditions on emigration. These reasons, however, also condition the moral quality of states that may legitimately limit the right, as well as the measures they can adopt for furthering their social ends.

Title	Details
Emigration and the Voluntaristic Turn in Social Justice Duties	View Paper Details
Emigration and Its Justified Constraints: Basic Justice and Human Rights	View Paper Details
Permissible Means of Managing the Labor Supply: Generalising from the Case of International Brain Drain	View Paper Details