Phillip Cole: Philosophies of Exclusion, Liberal Political Theory and Immigratio ****************************************************************************************** * Selma Muhič - Dizdarevič ****************************************************************************************** Phillip Cole: Philosophies of Exclusion, Liberal Political Theory and Immigration, Edinbur Press, Edinburgh 2000 This book deals with a question that might seem very specific, almost reduced. The questio a liberal political theory allows for immigration controls. Should a state according to li restrict or regulate immigration into a country or not? Having read this book, we might in that Cole comes to a conclusion that from the strictly liberal point of view, there can be those who call themselves liberals to accept any of the arguments in favor of regulating i even claims that "...liberal political philosophy, supposedly triumphant over other ideolo with this phenomenon within its own theoretical limits." But this question involves a much broader range of issues, the most important being: defin membership in a community, rules of being accepted as a member, inclusion rights, but also all liberal theories dealing with differences, it involves the issue of how differences fi human value, which is presumed to be a basis for equality and freedom. In that sense, as C "boundaries of membership" seem to be far more important than physical boundaries. It seem of equality, the core stone of liberal political philosophy is possible only under supposi membership practices, i.e. political community within boundaries. At the same time, Cole q says that "The community itself is a good - conceivably the most important good - that get That wouldn`t matter much and would be a matter of philosophical discussion if there were challenges demanding a policy-relevant conclusions: migrants within liberal states and at supranational and globalization pressures on a concrete political community organized as a Let me immediately draw a table, which should classify types of positions of liberal theor some of the consequences of their positions, according to Cole. The table is mine, but it presents the relevant positions: Criteria for membership Consequence All criteria are arbitrary Anybody can be a member Some criteria are non-arbitrary, Restrictions - but it is not clear on the basis is arbitrary of what Nation is non-arbitrary Criterion of membership would be participating in the nation. Problem: there is no non- arbitrary concept of nation All criteria are arbitrary, but tDoes this position lead to racism? It seems that a political community must keep tonly the chosen ones can be members. closed, nation is important, but based on contingency As Cole states, there are two dimensions of citizenship, external and internal, the former between members and outsiders, actually drawing a line around community and the latter dra between citizens and mere subjects, within society. This is the position in the society of denizens, who are deprived of rights entitled to citizens, rights to political participati are at the same time within society and outside of it. In addition to that, liberal theory the line cuts across an individual, who is at the same time subject and sovereign (a citiz Frances Webber speaks of euro-racism, because he thinks that the guest workers remain host community in the EU, while member state citizens are privileged. Existence of resident ali for a liberal theory and in that case institutional racism is inevitable. So, if there are no reasons inherent to the liberal theory to restrict immigration, we mig following pessimistic conclusion of a Hobbesian type: liberal theory is confined to nation despite the fact that adherence to nation is arbitrary. Internationally, there is no liber pursue, therefore immigration policy of the liberal state should just consider best intere citizens, but it can't be ethical. In other words, international order is of a Hobbesian t cannot extend liberal principles on it and the states are absolutely sovereign, therefore international justice. Cole questions the last presumption, saying that the type of the state we are discussing i Westphalian model dating from 1648. Nowadays issues that challenge this type of sovereignt minority rights, fiscal responsibility and international stability and environmental issue is marked by a deterritorialization of politics, rule and governance. Proportion of nation which reflects international legal standards has increased significantly over a century. Now, if we take a position that immigration should be regulated according to interests of the host country, there is always the question of cost and benefit. It is generally assume are a burden to the welfare system. It is illuminating to know that someone took an effort research on the issue and to compare contribution of immigrants to the welfare system thro benefits received in Western Europe and Canada. The result is that contributions might be they are definitely not negative. Further in the book, Cole disputes Walzer`s arguments for immigration restrictions. Walzer political community needs a shared identity and therefore has the right to choose members, where members define admittance criteria. At the same time, alien groups already within na cannot be expelled, because they have "territorial or locational right". The community has protect its members` conception of themselves and the community as a whole, therefore: if the borders are open, then there will be more control on a local level, therefore freed would be restricted for everybody welfare reasons: influx must match tax collection distinctiveness of culture: self-conception of a group must be guarded by immigration cont These are Walzer`s arguments, but Cole suggest a regional model, where local authorities h citizens, but do not decide about membership. In addition to that, Cole criticizes Walzer` membership in a community and membership in a club, because clubs are also restricted by e and the whole idea is based on a "first come first served" rule. It is not clear why would arrived earlier be entitled to change the admittance rules for those who have arrived late As for fears from open borders related to the effect on labor market and wage level, the f overloading public institutions and social welfare programs, and the consequences for the character of the liberal egalitarian state (for people it is easier to live with someone w them), Cole has to say that they are based on speculations, not facts. For the facts, it i quote the Held study, together with Cole: "Studies of the impact of immigration on overall a host economy, and the differential impact of immigration of the wage rates of different groupings in national labor markets, suggest marginal but arguably constructive impacts." Cole also discusses whether a nation could be the concept to outweigh the concept of human Some authors also divide immigrants to liberal and nonliberal, the latter being from non-W who are hard to tolerate and assimilate (only political assimilation is in question) claim influence of those could undermine the system from within. I will refrain from criticizing view here. So the key-question of this work "can there be a consistently liberal solution to the ques membership of political communities" gets a negative answer from Cole. What he pleads for constitutional order based on human rights". I might say that this book represents an excellent overview of the relevant issues, proble studies and authors on this delicate and pressing issue. It also gives a deeper insight in consequences of liberal theory in respect to membership issues, but also inspires into fur how the respect for equality should be promoted in societies with such diversified interes Cole, p.2 Cole, p.4, see also Michael Walzer (1983), Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Robertson, Oxford) An expression designating resident aliens, a term used by Tomas Hammar: denizens as oppose residents with permanent residence without citizenship, he estimates that it is the half o population in Western Europe in 1987. In T. Hammar (1990), Democracy and the Nation-state: and Citizens in a World of International Migration (Avebury, Aldershot) Cole, p. 9, see bibliography for details See Cole quoting Krasner, Stephen D. (1999), Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy (Princeton U Princeton), p. 18 For example, Great Britain is a member oh the following institutions, which influence its International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the G8, the Org Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the United Commonwealth. P. 22 Cole, quoting a study by Held et. alt. , see bibliography for details. D. held, A. Mc Grew, D. Goldblatt and J. Perraton (1999), Global Transformations: Politics Culture, (Polity Press, Cambridge) p. 324 Frederick Whelan Selma Muhič - Dizdarevič [ URL "LM-263.html "]