Moral proximity and the territorial imperative
| Author | Patti Tamara Lenard |
| DOI | 10.1177/14748851211065132 |
| Published date | 01 July 2022 |
| Date | 01 July 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Symposium on Shachar’s The Shifting Border |
Moral proximity and the
territorial imperative
Patti Tamara Lenard
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University
of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Abstract
In The Shifting Border, Ayelet Shachar offers us two concrete proposals for combatting
the danger posed by the shifting border, especially to those crossing borders in search of
safety. One proposal suggests that human rights travel with migrants, so that agents who
control the border must take responsibility for protecting their human rights at the bor-
der. A second proposal, which forms the basis of my commentary below, asks that states
consider alternative ways for migrants to seek protection safely. In responding to this
second proposal, I make two proposals of my own that stem from Shachar’s analysis:
(1) her analysis offers us the resources we need in order to expand, not only the chan-
nels available to migrants for seeking protection, but also our sense of who should be
involved in controlling admission, and (2) expanding the “who”that is involved in admis-
sion gives meaning to the concept of “moral proximity”which can help to overcome the
territorial imperative that dominates the rules governing international migration, i.e., the
imperative that protection travels with physical access to territory, only.
Keywords
Borders, proximity, refugees, refugee sponsorship, resettlement
Ayelet Shachar’sThe Shifting Border articulates the multiple ways in which the border
between states is no longer in any real sense at the border. As the title tells us, the
border has shifted and now operates not only at physical borders, but also inside of
them and at far flung locations away from them. Borders are ever-more pervasive in
Corresponding author:
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa, 120 University Private, Ottawa,ON,
K1N 6N5, Canada.
Email: patti.lenard@uottawa.ca
Symposium on Shachar’sThe Shifting Border
European Journal of Political Theory
2022, Vol. 21(3) 594–600
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14748851211065132
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