An Analysis of Seyla Benhabib''s The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents and Citizens

In The Rights of Others, Benhabib argues that the transnational movement of people across the globe has brought to the fore fundamental dilemmas facing liberal democracies: tension between a states commitment to universal human rights, and to its sovereign self-determination and its claims to regulate its national borders on the other. Re-conceptualises the boundaries of political membership in liberal democracies instead proposing porous borders rather than open ones and a right to just membership, advocating cosmopolitan federalism in the tradition of Kant. Banhabibs work goes to the heart of key issues faced in a world of forced displacement, Brexit, and increased protectionism.