Expatriatism: The theory and practice of open borders

• Main Author: KUKATHAS, Chandran
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2010
• Subjects: International Relations; Political Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3005
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Every day, large numbers of people cross borders that separate one political jurisdiction from another. Most do so legally, though many break the law in changing jurisdictions. Many more do not cross borders, because they dare not break the law or cannot cross undetected-sometimes because they are denied permission to leave one jurisdiction, and other times because they are prohibited from entering another. Some cross borders fully aware that they are leaving one defined space and entering another, while others have no idea that anything has changed or that the imaginary lines that define distinct regions exist even in the imagination. Borders-political boundaries-are such variable things that encounters with them can be very different experiences. Entering Luxemburg from Belgium is almost always a nonevent. Entering the United States from Mexico can be very eventful. The purpose of this essay to ask why this is so, and whether it must be so. Why must some borders be so difficult to cross? Why can't the move from Mexico to the United States always be as easy as moving from Belgium to Luxemburg? Why should some people be able to move so freely and others not? Another way to put this is to ask: Why can't all borders be open? The point of this essay is to address this question, both as a conceptual question and as a theoretical-normative-question. Its concern is the movement of people-not of goods or money-across political boundaries. In the end, it tries to offer a defense of open borders. But any such defense must rest on some account of what "open borders" means, and how such a thing is possible. Thus the aim of the essay is to offer an account of the theory and practice of open borders.