Borders, liberalism and immigration

According to the paper, the liberal traditions are stressed by a theoretical claim of normative universality and the restriction of this claim to the context of national states. This tension is clearly expressed in the case of immigration by the state's claim for discretionary control borders. The article develops four arguments for the normative significance of borders (spaces of security; public goods and fair play; distributive justice; and personal autonomy) and contends that they are inconclusive. Correspondingly, a liberal perspective would provide fewer arguments to justify the discretionary closure of borders.