Should Immigrants have Fewer Rights than Citizens? An Enquiry into the Moral Bases of Immigrants' Political, Socio-Economic and Linguistic Entitlements

The idea of differential rights for citizens and resident aliens is normatively undertheorized within the political philosophy of migration, despite its salience in the political debate. What, if any, are the moral grounds for granting citizens more rights than 'denizens'? Three categories of differential rights will be investigated from a normative point of view: priority for citizens in terms of (1) political rights, (2) socioeconomic rights and (3) language rights. Our central questions are: Can priority for citizens in terms of political, socio-economic and language rights ever be justified? On what moral grounds might such differentiation be made (co-national priority, autonomy, freedom of association, fairness, contribution, etc.)? Do these grounds lead to identical or different results across the three categories of entitlements? And can we formulate desirable scenario's for implementing (or withstanding) such differentiation? The objective of the proposed research project is to develop a comprehensive political theory of 'justice for denizens'.

Keywords:justice, language rights, socio-economic rights, political rights, immigration, citizenship

Disciplines:Social and political philosophy