ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns transnational migration; 1 specifically, the rights of migrants and the rights of states to unilaterally set their border policies. According to United Nations estimates, there are 214 million international migrants worldwide and 44 million forcibly displaced people, while another 50 million people are living and working abroad with irregular status. The proliferation of terms to describe the varieties of migrancy—permanent resident, guest worker, illegal alien, refugee, displaced person, asylum seeker—is itself indicative of the scale of the phenomenon. Each term denotes a different type of experience and a different relationship to the new society—which has inevitable implications for democratic politics and the meaning of citizenship (Bellamy 2008). Plainly stated, the global migration phenomenon seems to “challenge” states’ borders as we understand them today, while states try unsuccessfully to “resist” this expanding phenomenon by erecting new fences and walls and manning borders with more guards.
