This paper proposes a reorientation of normative discussion on the rights of stateless persons, stepping away from the state-citizen paradigm and focusing instead on the responsibilities of public authorities at the sub-national level to meet the basic needs of stateless and other individuals with irregular migration status. This reorientation rests on the notion that public authorities have obligations of assistance that arise from certain morally relevant features of their relationship with stateless persons and irregular migrants, of which there are at least two (a) the dependency of such individuals on public authorities for the fulfillment of their basic needs (e.g. education); and, (b) the high degree of vulnerability to the discretionary authority of public authorities. In contrast to justice-based or rights-based approaches, which draw heavily on liberal-contractarian traditions, this account of social responsibility emphasizes experience over process, foregrounding relationships of dependency in thick networks mutual dependency at the sub-national level.
