Migration and Political Theory. Gillian Brock
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Название: Migration and Political Theory

Автор: Gillian Brock

Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited

Жанр: Афоризмы и цитаты

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isbn: 9781509535248

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СКАЧАТЬ jobs, the welfare system might collapse, or democracies would decay. There are many concerns, but several of them might be construed as detrimental effects on the very institutions and collective assets that communities need to sustain themselves well.

       Negative economic impacts

      One concern is that an influx of migrants might lead to economic deterioration. Much turns on the point at which one believes such economic decline would set in, and it is possible that states could in fact afford to open their borders to large numbers of migrants before that point is reached. By contrast, others argue that the entry of large numbers of migrants can assist the growth, innovation, and dynamism of an economy, resulting in considerable mutual gains for both migrants and receiving countries. Some also argue that most affluent countries need high levels of migration to sustain prosperity (such as by providing a strong workforce and tax base), given their significantly aging populations and the fact that older populations need more service sector workers.

       The requirements for a robust democracy

      Democratic institutions have certain prerequisites that must be met if they are to function well. Individual members of a society need a certain sense of themselves as a team so that they will be willing to work together in sustaining the community. For instance, they need to be willing to make sacrifices for each other in the name of the community’s wellbeing. We need to trust our compatriots, to be willing to engage appropriately in deliberation and to make compromises where appropriate. Some argue that shared identity is necessary for creating and sustaining such connections. Some worry that immigration will threaten these prerequisites (or “social capital”), for instance by corroding national identity in detrimental ways (Banting and Kymlicka 2017b). This connects us again with the concerns about protecting the culture that undergirds national identity. Let’s look at these concerns in a bit more detail.

       Strains on the welfare state and negative effects for compatriots

      Many ordinary citizens fear that increased migration puts pressure on publicly provided goods such as education, healthcare, or law enforcement. People are concerned about longer wait times to receive services such as healthcare, or that the quality of services will deteriorate. In short, compatriots worry that a higher number of migrants will present more competition for scarce resources, raising the price of housing, increasing congestion on the roads, putting downward pressure on wages, and so on. And they worry especially that with all these added demands on the welfare state, this will erode the solidarity and social capital we need to sustain such institutions.

      Does immigration undermine the social trust needed to sustain a welfare system? Some important empirical evidence “suggests that support for the welfare state depends primarily on features of institutions rather than on characteristics of the population” (Pevnick 2009: 149). As Cole (2011) argues, social trust can be created; we do not have to rely on its already being in the community. So welfare institutions can create social trust, rather than the other way around. We return to many issues concerning consequences of migration in chapters 7 and 8, among several others.

       2.2.1 Joseph Carens: feudalism, convergence, and freedom

       The feudalism analogy

      Joseph Carens famously argues for a position that is more open to permitting immigration, and this position is standardly characterized as an argument for open borders. In his classic argument, there is little justification for keeping out the many poor and oppressed people who wish to move to high-income countries. His view is that “borders should generally be open … people should normally be free to leave their country of origin and settle in another” (Carens 1987: 251). He has several lines of argument for this position.

       The convergence line of argument

      In another line of argument, Carens shows that СКАЧАТЬ