THE MIGRANT CRISIS AND PHILOSOPHY OF MIGRATION: REALITY, REALISM, ETHICS

Abstract

"The Migrant Crisis and Philosophy of Migration: Reality, Realism, Ethics" is a PhD thesis by Dario Mazzola in the field of Moral and Political Philosophy, Ethics of Migration. The thesis is divided into an introduction, three main sections, two appendixes and general conclusions. The introduction presents the extent, the tradition, and the relevance of philosophy of migration and refuge, on both analytic and historical standpoints. The main body of the thesis is devoted to characterizing and criticizing the migrant crisis, to elaborate a suitable theory to deal with it normatively, and then to defend the right to free movement or open borders in the face of realistic and nationalistic objections. The two appendixes reinforce the argument, while the conclusions resume it and broadly show its implications on methodology and substantial political issues. Chapter one, which constitutes section I, is devoted to the migrant crisis and reconstructs the main problems and dynamics which constitute the phenomenon, mainly by drawing on critical and empirical literature. Chapter II and III, which compose the second section on realism, deal with the tradition of realism and the attempt at elaborating a realistic theory from within migration ethics respectively. Chapter IV and V, the most purely normative component of the thesis, defend the open-borders ideal in the light of the previous presentation of the subject-matter and of the main methodological problems. This is done by reconstructing the critiques to freedom of movement advanced by realists, proponents of freedom of association, and liberal nationalist most relevantly. In conclusion, a threefold ethical arguments defend the right to migration: the presumptive favor for liberty over restrictions, an extended version of the classic open-borders overlapping consesus between main ethical standpoints, and an argument for the integration of the right to free movement with human rights in general. The import and implications of the thesis are read and constrained in the realist(ic) way descrived in section II. Appendix I changes the perspective on the migrant crisis from the abstract to the personal and individual, and does so by showing the relevance of refugee stories to restore empathy and, by doing this, to strengthen social solidarity. Appendix II deepens the thesis that natural law theory would be comprehended within the pro open-borders consensus. In conclusion, with the same qualifications which hold for any other right, and while recognizing its subordination to more fundamental ones such as rights to life or to personal liberty and security, the right to free movement is analyzed, vindicated, and defended, even in the face of the migrant crisis.