Liberal Nationalism on Immigration

Abstract

Liberal nationalists such as David Miller and Will Kymlicka have claimed that liberal principles have implausible implications with regard to the issue of immigration. They hold that nationality should play a normative role in this regard, and that this is necessary in order to justify restrictions on immigration. The present chapter discusses the envisaged role for considerations of nationality with regard to admission and residence, and examines the actual implications of arguments advanced by liberal nationalists as to why nationality should play this role. It is argued that the connection between nationality and immigration on liberal nationalist premises is not as straightforward as one might expect, and that the addition of considerations of nationality to liberal principles makes no practical difference with regard to reasons for restricting immigration or criteria of selection among applicants for entry, as assumed by liberal nationalists.

Thanks to Simon Caney, Andreas Føllesdal, Nils Holtug, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Anne Phillips, Mathias Risse and Daniel Weinstock for comments.