Publication Type
Book Chapter
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
1-2016
Abstract
Advocates of restricted immigration usually make an exception for refugees who are described as having special claims to admission on humanitarian grounds. This chapter raises doubts about the plausibility of the distinction between refugees and economic or other non-humanitarian migrants. It argues that the distinction is difficult to draw conceptually and that the institutions designed to serve the interests of refugees in fact aim to limit their capacity to move despite claims that they are intended to serve refugee interests. The chapter also argues that if we want to serve the interests of those who have claims on our help and hospitality we need to devise very different institutional arrangements.
Keywords
Immigration, Refugee, Hospitality, Humanitarian, Global justice
Discipline
International Relations | Political Theory
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Migration in political theory: The ethics of movement and membership
Editor
YPI, Lea; FINE, Sarah
First Page
249
Last Page
268
ISBN
9780199676606
Identifier
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199676606.003.0012
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Citation
KUKATHAS, Chandran. (2016). Are refugees special?. In Migration in political theory: The ethics of movement and membership (pp. 249-268). : Oxford University Press.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2984
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199676606.003.0012