Contradictions in the Moral Economy of Migrant Irregularity

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License: CC BY 4.0
Serval ID
serval:BIB_2C276CAA3CE2
Type
A part of a book
Publication sub-type
Chapter: chapter ou part
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Contradictions in the Moral Economy of Migrant Irregularity
Title of the book
IMISCOE Research Series
Author(s)
Chauvin Sébastien, Garcés-Mascareñas Blanca
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
ISBN
9783030343231
9783030343248
ISSN
2364-4087
2364-4095
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2020
Pages
33-49
Language
english
Abstract
Despite their rhetorical emphasis on enforcement, contemporary governments have overseen a process of formal semi-inclusion of irregular migrants. This chapter calls for a clearer conceptual distinction between sovereignty and governmentality to argue that simultaneous exclusion and inclusion does not primarily result from a gap between law in the books and law in practice, nor from external constraints imposed on the state, but rather follows from contradictory public rationalities in the realm of migration management. Those contradictions result in a messy, multidimensional, and continuous citizenship regime that cannot not be fully grasped through reified dichotomies such as formal vs informal, structure vs agency, or legal exclusion vs performative acts of inclusion, as the latter ironically rely on an overly homogenous and self-consistent picture of the modern state. We hypothesize that the structural imperatives of governmentality, which require embracing the population as it is, may account for the relative stability of forms of incorporation over time while moral and legal justifications for it come and go in a more fluctuating way. These structural concerns— public health, public education, public safety, economic and urban planning — could turn out to be of deeper long-term relevance to contemporary states than more superficial or “ideological” considerations such as human rights compliance or humanitarian compassion.
Open Access
Yes
Create date
30/01/2021 6:59
Last modification date
21/02/2021 7:08
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