Liberalism and the Migration State: A Roundtable on the Work of James Hollifield

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

Political and social theorists have long debated the relationship between liberalism, migration, and citizenship. How can liberal states control immigration without violating the human and civil rights of migrants? How do states strike a balance between rights and markets to resolve the liberal paradox—the need for economic openness versus political and legal closure? Should states exclude migrants from social membership or put them on a path to citizenship? The work of James F. Hollifield has helped set the agenda in the field of migration and citizenship for nearly three decades. In particular, two formative contributions continue to stimulate productive debates and new research agendas: the “liberal paradox,” which captures a major tension in policymaking between economic openness and political closure, and the concept of the “migration state,” which positions migration management as an essential feature of all states. Bringing together scholars specializing in cases across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Latin America, this roundtable takes stock of Hollifield’s work on liberalism and migration and reconsiders how it may be expanded to consider a range of historical and comparative case studies beyond his original case studies in Western Europe and the United States.

With the focal point on the “liberal paradox” and the “migration state,” the panelists will consider distinct patterns of migration management across countries in a specific subcontinent, geographical region, or imperial system to broaden our understanding of the relationship between liberalism and migration management, on the one hand, and the historical antecedents of contemporary migration management regimes, on the other. How have states attempted to reconcile economic and nation-building needs via their migration policies? Why and how does postcolonial state formation affect migration management? How does the character of the regime impact the policies adopted by migration states? How has the evolution from liberalism to neoliberalism changed or undermined long-held assumptions about the capacity of liberal states to control migration?

This roundtable panel includes a wide range of scholars from North America and Europe whose research reflects multiple approaches to studying migration politics—including archival and ethnographic research, in-depth case studies, and comparative methods—and covers a broad spectrum of migration cases: major sending countries, recent countries of immigration, and countries that are simultaneously migrant countries of origin, destination, and transit. The panelists will combine insights from American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political sociology, political economy, historical and decolonial approaches, and transnationalism and diaspora studies. As an endeavor to reconsider Hollifield’s work and its impact on the field of migration and citizenship studies, this roundtable discussion will reflect on the state of the field and its future.

Sub Unit

• Division 52: Migration & Citizenship

Chair

• Rogers M. Smith University of Pennsylvania

Presenters

• Erin Aeran Chung Johns Hopkins University

• Terri E Givens University of British Columbia

• Fiona B. Adamson SOAS University of London

• Randall A. Hansen University of Toronto

• Miryam Hazán Organization of American States (OAS)

• Michael Orlando Sharpe CUNY-York College/Graduate Center

• Kamal Sadiq University of California, Irvine

• Christian Georg Joppke

• James F. Hollifield Southern Methodist University