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Christopher Bertram, The Ethics of Immigration , by Joseph Carens. , Mind, Volume 125, Issue 498, April 2016, Pages 575–578, https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzv145
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Joseph Carens has written what is sure to be the definitive text on the ethics of immigration and citizenship for many years to come. The work is the product of over three decades of work on this topic, following Carens's first contributions which initiated discussion of migration as a set of issues within political philosophy. It is therefore aptly thought of as ‘long awaited'. The book contains comprehensive discussions of citizenship, integration, the status of temporary workers, irregular migration, criteria for admission and the right of states (or not) to control movement and settlement across borders. It also addresses questions in the methodology of political philosophy. The book is remarkable for its clarity of expression and Carens has succeeded, to a degree that may be without precedent, in writing a book that is both stimulating and challenging for professional philosophers and accessible to policy makers and ordinary citizens.
Carens is known as an early advocate of open borders and this book follows earlier articles in arguing that individuals have the moral right to freedom of movement and that states have, correspondingly, a duty not to impose exclusionary immigration controls. Nevertheless, as he recognizes, the advocate of such a position is arguing for a view that is a political non-starter and that many of his readers will struggle to accept. Partly for this reason, he divides the book into two parts. In the first, he concedes, for the sake of argument, the conventional view that states have a right to control their borders. In the second, he removes that concession and argues for his maximal position.
