PANEL 6- Displacement and Refuge
Convenors: Leonardo Barros da Silva Menezes and Andreia Sofia Pinto Oliveira
All inquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected] and [email protected]
Debates in forced displacement have long been followed by the methodological examination of real-world facts and constraints. Indeed, asylum-refuge has been an especially prominent field for assessing the way in which normative theory should be grounded in existing practices and political possibilities. Yet, the existing consensus in the debate that philosophy of refuge should concern itself with real world conditions does not answer the question about what the real world is for the purposes of migration flows. As Joseph Carens remarked, it may be fair to say that “people sometimes disagree more about what the real world is [...] than they do about what a just world would look like” (2013, 305).
The political philosophy of refuge represents from this perspective a test bench to verify, in dialogue with law, political science and other disciplines, the reasonableness, feasibility and scope of key concepts such as territory, sovereignty, demos, citizenship and/or human rights. But how should we understand the idea of feasibility in times of deep political polarization? Is feasibility after all the only starting point for devising normative criteria in the first place? These approaches not only question classical theoretical models, but also raise new and even uncomfortable issues. (Forced) Displacement, probably more than any other phenomenon, is able to reveal to us the deep constitution of our societies. This is a field that allows us to test the normative limits of the institutional order, its contradictions and internal tensions, a field where we can also contrast the degree of real commitment of states to human rights and justice. Philosophers have a great opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the public debate through various analytical tools. They can draw on the vast existing literature in the area in search of a fair balance between often conflicting moral claims, such as the universality of human dignity principle and the moral requirements of equality within national boundaries.
These and other related questions have been extensively covered by forced displacement literature. This panel aims at promoting the discussion of these problems. A non-exhaustive list of possible relevant topics to be addressed in the panel includes:
If you want to apply, please submit an abstract, of 400-500 words along with five keywords, of your paper prepared for peer review by 17 April 2022. We will respond by 28 April 2022. All proposals must be submitted online through our website using the Abstract submission Form (please, click “Submit Abstract” and fill the form).
All inquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected] and [email protected]
Debates in forced displacement have long been followed by the methodological examination of real-world facts and constraints. Indeed, asylum-refuge has been an especially prominent field for assessing the way in which normative theory should be grounded in existing practices and political possibilities. Yet, the existing consensus in the debate that philosophy of refuge should concern itself with real world conditions does not answer the question about what the real world is for the purposes of migration flows. As Joseph Carens remarked, it may be fair to say that “people sometimes disagree more about what the real world is [...] than they do about what a just world would look like” (2013, 305).
The political philosophy of refuge represents from this perspective a test bench to verify, in dialogue with law, political science and other disciplines, the reasonableness, feasibility and scope of key concepts such as territory, sovereignty, demos, citizenship and/or human rights. But how should we understand the idea of feasibility in times of deep political polarization? Is feasibility after all the only starting point for devising normative criteria in the first place? These approaches not only question classical theoretical models, but also raise new and even uncomfortable issues. (Forced) Displacement, probably more than any other phenomenon, is able to reveal to us the deep constitution of our societies. This is a field that allows us to test the normative limits of the institutional order, its contradictions and internal tensions, a field where we can also contrast the degree of real commitment of states to human rights and justice. Philosophers have a great opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the public debate through various analytical tools. They can draw on the vast existing literature in the area in search of a fair balance between often conflicting moral claims, such as the universality of human dignity principle and the moral requirements of equality within national boundaries.
These and other related questions have been extensively covered by forced displacement literature. This panel aims at promoting the discussion of these problems. A non-exhaustive list of possible relevant topics to be addressed in the panel includes:
- Refugee Relocation: In what respect should any redistributive scheme of refugees between states figure in a normative theory of migration?
- Refugee Rights: Do refugees have a (political) right to voice? Do they have a right to choose where they want to live in?
- Political Legitimacy: What do we gain from taking legitimacy, rather than justice, as the central value in a normative theory of migration?
- Special Status: Should we keep up the distinction between refugees and other immigrants?
- International Law: To what extent should non-ideal theories in migration ethics take international migration law into account?
- Feasibility: What does it mean a normative theory of migration to be feasible? Should it necessarily be so?
If you want to apply, please submit an abstract, of 400-500 words along with five keywords, of your paper prepared for peer review by 17 April 2022. We will respond by 28 April 2022. All proposals must be submitted online through our website using the Abstract submission Form (please, click “Submit Abstract” and fill the form).