Grad Sem:Justice Immigration

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This seminar will explore contemporary philosophical and policy debates about the nature of citizenship, the morality of borders, and the dilemmas posed by the transnational movement of peoples. We'll be concerned with normative questions about the distribution of citizenship in the United States, especially what entitles someone to be a member of a political community, or, alternatively, what might legitimate policies of closed borders and exclusion? We will consider classical and contemporary accounts of citizenship; theories of distributive and global justice, both Rawlsian and non-Rawlsian; the history and development of immigration and citizenship policy in the United States; and various moral, economic and cultural arguments for and against open borders. Readings may include Aristotle, Locke, Walzer, Arendt, Beitz, Carens, Benhabib, Macedo, Huemer, Zolberg, Borjas, Huntington, and Ngai. Open to undergraduate students with a background in political theory by consent of instructor.