It is the year 2016, and the Refugee Crisis is omnipresent in the media, public debates as well as in politics. The ethical challenge of refugees is being discussed even in university seminars. The topic is drawing big attention not in one European Union (EU) member state but across the entire EU. The discourse is not homogeneous—neither at the national nor the civil society level.
The reactions range from wholehearted welcoming of asylum-seekers by governments and individuals to hostile, xenophobic counter-movements. What? Xenophobic movements? But, haven’t quite a few scholars, Seyla Benhabib and Ulrich Beck among them, alluded to connections between the EU and cosmopolitanism? Why then are some member states rejecting refugees instead of welcoming them hospitably like they should do as cosmopolitan actors?
This confusion leads to the following question: Is the Refugee Crisis a threat to, or could it be, in contrast, also be a driver of cosmopolitan Europe? This question has not been investigated in academia until now and shall be outlined in this paper. Research done in the fields of philosophy, sociology, political science, and law discusses certain aspects of the question this paper poses and will be put together to solve the puzzle.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Theoretical background: Democratic and empirical cosmopolitanism
1.1 Seyla Benhabib’s democratic cosmopolitan right to political membership
1.1.1 Democratic cosmopolitanism
1.1.2 The right to political membership
1.1.3 Democratic iterations and jurisgenerative politics
1.2 Anti-cosmopolitanism and communitarian state-centrism
1.3 Ulrich Becks empirical (risk-) cosmopolitanism
1.3.1 Cosmopolitanism vs. cosmopolitanization
1.3.2 Cosmopolitanization is ‘banal cosmopolitanism’ but not globalization
1.3.3 Common risks and the cosmopolitan outlook lead to institutionalized cosmopolitanism
2. Political membership in the EU: towards a postnational and cosmopolitan society
2.1 Comparing the political rights of EU citizens, refugees, and third-country nationals
2.1.1 Political Rights of EU citizens
2.1.2 Political rights of Refugees and asylees in the EU
2.1.3 Political rights of third-country nationals in the EU
2.2 Access to political membership through naturalization
2.2.1 The German model of naturalization
2.2.2 The French model of naturalization
2.3 Conclusion: There are cosmopolitan and postnational dynamics in the EU
2.3.1 Benhabib’s point of view on the EU as cosmopolitan entity
2.3.2 Soysal’s point of view on the EU as a postnational entity
3. The Refugee Crisis as a driver of cosmopolitan Europe?
3.1 Contradiction to cosmopolitan dynamics: Anti-cosmopolitan responses to Refugee Crisis
3.1.1 The Refugee Crisis
3.1.2 Anti-cosmopolitan answers to the Refugee Crisis
3.2 Following Beck, a cosmopolitan response should be the EU’s response to the Refugee Crisis
3.2.1 The Refugee Crisis creates a European global public
3.2.2 The European global public creates an institutionalized cosmopolitan European solution
3.2.3 The European cosmopolitan solution as a product of cosmopolitan realism
3.3 Towards a cosmopolitan solution for the Refugee Crisis driving cosmopolitan EU?
3.3.1 The failure of the Dublin III regulation
3.3.2 An institutionalized cosmopolitan European asylum policy as solution
3.3.3 If member states cooperate, the Refugee Crisis is a driver of cosmopolitan Europe
Research Objectives and Themes
This thesis examines whether the Refugee Crisis represents a fundamental threat to the European Union or if it acts as a catalyst for a more cosmopolitan, postnational European structure. The author utilizes philosophical and sociological frameworks to analyze how existing EU political membership regimes interact with anti-cosmopolitan reactions to the influx of refugees.
- Theoretical analysis of democratic and empirical cosmopolitanism via Benhabib and Beck.
- Assessment of current political rights for EU citizens, refugees, and third-country nationals.
- Evaluation of the tension between state-centric communitarianism and cosmopolitan European ideals.
- Investigation into whether a cooperative "institutionalized cosmopolitan" asylum regime can resolve the crisis.
Excerpt from the Book
1.1.1 Democratic cosmopolitanism
One branch of contemporary cosmopolitanism is democratic cosmopolitanism. Seyla Benhabib is among its most important advocates. In order to mitigate the tensions “between human rights declarations and states’ sovereign claims to control their borders as well as to monitor the quality and quantity of admittees”, that are enhanced by transnational migration, she argues for a renegotiation and reiteration of the dual commitments to human rights and sovereign self-determination. What exactly she means with these iterations will be explained later in this chapter. Concerning hospitality, entry and membership in the framework of migration, Benhabib ranks individual human rights higher than communal rights and endorses an equality between the importance of insiders’ and outsiders’ interests. Consequently, she favors “open and porous borders which enable the free movement of peoples, goods, and services across state boundaries.”
Nevertheless she admits that there could be an exclusion of outsiders seeking membership of a state, but this exclusion has to be based on a well-founded justification. This justification has to undergo a process of discourse ethics: inspired by Jürgen Habermas, Benhabib asks “which norms and normative institutional arrangements would be considered valid by all those who would be affected if they were participants in special moral argumentations called dicourses.”
This means that reasons for exclusion must be justified with “grounds that you would accept if you were in my situation and I were in yours.” Only some specific forms of possible harm justify exclusion, such as a threat to democracy itself. This grants states the right to individually exclude extremists, but not, for instance, Muslims as a whole “on the grounds that Islam is claimed to be incompatible with democracy.”
Chapter Summaries
1. Theoretical background: Democratic and empirical cosmopolitanism: This chapter establishes the theoretical foundations by exploring Benhabib’s concepts of democratic membership and Beck’s theories on risk-cosmopolitanization.
2. Political membership in the EU: towards a postnational and cosmopolitan society: The author compares the political rights of various resident groups in the EU to assess the current status of the Union as a postnational entity.
3. The Refugee Crisis as a driver of cosmopolitan Europe?: This section applies the previously established theories to the specific challenges of the 2015/2016 Refugee Crisis, arguing that institutionalized solidarity is the necessary cosmopolitan solution.
Keywords
Cosmopolitanism, Refugee Crisis, European Union, Democratic Iterations, Political Membership, Postnationalism, Ulrich Beck, Seyla Benhabib, Dublin III, Human Rights, Solidarity, Migration Policy, Communitarianism, Citizenship, Global Public.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the central subject of this academic work?
The thesis investigates the relationship between the European refugee crisis and the development of a cosmopolitan European identity and political structure.
What are the primary theoretical themes discussed?
The paper focuses on democratic cosmopolitanism, empirical "risk" cosmopolitanization, the theory of postnational citizenship, and the conflict between communitarian state-centrism and human rights.
What is the main research question of the thesis?
The author asks whether the Refugee Crisis is a threat that undermines European integration or a driver that could propel the EU toward a more cosmopolitan, cooperative future.
Which scientific methods are employed in this analysis?
The work utilizes a multi-disciplinary approach, combining political philosophy, sociology, and legal analysis to evaluate the dynamics of EU membership and migration governance.
What core topics are addressed in the main chapters?
The main part covers the theoretical background of cosmopolitan thought, the existing political rights regimes for residents in the EU, and the critical failure of the Dublin III regulation compared to a proposed institutionalized cosmopolitan asylum system.
Which specific keywords define this study?
Key terms include cosmopolitanism, political membership, the EU Refugee Crisis, postnational citizenship, democratic iterations, and institutionalized cosmopolitanism.
How does the author define the 'European global public'?
The author, drawing on Beck, defines this as a transnational sphere created through the shared awareness and recognition of cross-border risks, such as those manifested by the Refugee Crisis.
What role do 'democratic iterations' play in the author's argument?
Democratic iterations are described as continuous processes of public debate and legal reinterpretation that allow political norms to evolve, enabling the integration of outsiders into the political community.
- Arbeit zitieren
- David Schneider (Autor:in), 2016, The Refugee Crisis. Threat to or Driver of Cosmopolitan Europe?, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/358198
