Luck Egalitarianism and the Rights of Immigrants

Ratio Juris 29 (4) (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This article considers the implications of luck egalitarianism for a range of issues relating to international, South-North migration. More specifically, the implications of luck egalitarianism for the question of whether receiving societies are justified in extending to immigrants a less comprehensive set of rights than that enjoyed by other members of society are considered. First, are voluntary migrants responsible for their migration in such a way that receiving societies are justified in extending to them a less comprehensive set of rights than if, say, they had been involuntary migrants, or citizens of the destination country? Since luck egalitarianism aims to redistribute only for inequalities for which individuals are not responsible, there is an issue of whether it will hold individuals responsible for their choice of migration in such a way that it may justify asymmetrical sets of rights between voluntary immigrants and other members of society. Second, it may be possible to allow access for a higher number of disadvantaged migrants if they are granted access to a less extensive package of rights when they reach the destination country than if they are granted access to a more extensive such package. If so, may not the less extensive package of rights turn out to have a greater positive impact on global equality? Both these arguments are critically discussed and it is concluded that neither justifies extending to immigrants a less comprehensive set of rights.

Other Versions

reprint Holtug, Nils (2017) "Luck Egalitarianism and the Rights of Immigrants". Ratio Juris 30(2):127-143

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,219

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-12-29

Downloads
25 (#740,828)

6 months
8 (#470,590)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Nils Holtug
University of Copenhagen

Citations of this work

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references