ABSTRACT
Hannah Arendt was writing of the stateless persons generated by the breakup of four1 multinational empires in the aftermath of the First World War. However, her comments were prompted by a dilemma which is still apparent in contemporary society and which stems from the problematic relationship between citizenship and human rights, as illuminated by the position of cross-border migrants and more especially asylum seekers. This book examines the extent to which human rights can be evoked to support the rights of asylum seekers denied access to the necessities of life while their claim is being assessed. In so doing, it also considers a much broader question; the role of rights in drawing the moral boundaries of the community we live in, and in securing dignity and respect for the vulnerable. This first chapter therefore begins by considering the problem of rights in the light of the historical relationship between citizenship and human rights: Arendt’s paradox. It then goes on to examine a variety of sociological approaches to the practice of rights as a contested terrain in which the role of judgement is increasingly significant. When large numbers of people live outside of their national country of origin, determining decisions on the contours and content of rights provides a barometer by which we can measure practical commitment to the notion of a shared humanity and the cosmopolitan ideal.
