Shifting Borders of Justice: Territory, Market, Migration

Ayelet Shachar

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Contributing to debates about migration and globalization, this research project explores how and why the multiple borders of justice—territorial, legal, and normative—are shifting. These dramatic transformations unsettle ideas about waning sovereignty, just as they illustrate the limits of the populist push toward refortified bordering responses. As an alternative to these established theoretical poles and as part of a broader attempt to overcome policy deadlocks at the domestic and international level, Professor Shachar proposes a new approach to human mobility in a world where borders, like people, have the capacity to move.

“Starting where The Birthright Lottery ends, in this new path-breaking work, Ayelet Shachar makes visible recently developed border regimes that defy settled notions of territory and human rights, constituting a new level of control and global inequality. Both her empirical and her normative analyses are innovative and rich, an exemplar of profound scholarship. In dialogue with a superb group of experts, the complex dimensions of shifting borders are further elucidated. A great achievement.”
-        Rainer Forst, Goethe University Frankfurt

The Shifting Border by Ayelet Shachar is a remarkable book. Essential for understanding government responses to people on the move, Shachar’s vivid description, analytical precision, and reasoned persuasion combine to challenge conventional wisdoms about “borders” and how they work. The result: exceptional insights into how migration control can be more just. The Shifting Border offers an indispensable roadmap to immigration and refugee debates all around the world.
-        Hiroshi Motomura, UCLA School of Law

“In her impressive book, The Shifting Border, Ayelet Shachar refuses to adhere to what she views as false dichotomies between traditional approaches to a concept (culture, citizenship, borders) and premature diagnoses of the concept’s demise. The force of her argument is consistently oriented towards rethinking the question, offering a new framework to understanding the world. … Shachar’s innovative framework nicely exemplifies the shift from idealized ethical debates to institutional and political analysis … Highly recommended.”
-        Lior Erez, LSE Book Review Blog

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