ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that migration laws, especially those aspects that define and seek to control illegal migration, are one useful indicator for assessing the impact and character of globalization. Migration laws are a vital site for constructing responses to the some of the central questions at the core of theoretical accounts of globalization. Migration law is constitutive of liberal communities, both as 'nations' and as 'states'. In terms of the more emotive concept 'nation', migration law is equally vital. The chapter details the argument that migration laws provide an ideal testing site for the propositions of globalization theory both because of how migration is positioned within globalization theory and because of how migration law is situated within nation states. It examines the relationship between illegal migration and sovereignty, arguing that considering illegal migration in particular provides a way of assessing the changing - and indeed the unchanging - nature of national sovereignty.