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Restricting Rights, Losing Control: The Politics of Control over Asylum Seekers in Liberal-Democratic States—Lessons from the Canadian Case, 1951–1989

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2010

Christopher G. Anderson
Christopher G. Anderson*
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
*
Christopher G. Anderson, Department of Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, CanadaN2L 3C, canderson@wlu.ca
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Abstract

Abstract. Since the 1990s, a prevalent theme in the comparative literature on liberal–democratic state responses to increasing international migration holds that the expansion of rights protections for non-citizens has undermined restrictive border control policies. The argument presented in this article suggests that this is too partial an understanding of the ways in which control and rights intersect—the control–rights nexus. Accordingly, it analyzes Canadian policies towards asylum seekers from the 1950s to the 1980s to explore the ways in which the restriction of rights can undermine state control policies by generating rights-based politics, encouraging the circumvention of control policies and creating administrative inefficiencies. Altogether, the analysis provides an important refinement of the study of the control–rights nexus and allows for a more complete understanding of control policies and politics in liberal–democratic states.

Résumé. Depuis les années 1990, un thème répandu dans la littérature comparative sur les réponses des États libéraux démocratiques à la croissance de la migration internationale soutient que l'extension de la protection des droits des non-citoyens a compromis les politiques restrictives de contrôle des frontières. L'argument présenté dans cet article suggère que ce thème offre une compréhension trop partielle de la dynamique d'intersection du contrôle et des droits – le control-rights nexus. En conséquence, il analyse les politiques canadiennes envers les demandeurs d'asile depuis les années 1950 jusqu'aux années 1980 pour explorer les manières dont la restriction des droits peut miner les politiques de contrôle de l'État en générant des politiques de droits, en encourageant le contournement des politiques de contrôle et en créant des lourdeurs administratives. En somme, l'analyse apporte une mise au point importante à l'étude de cet enjeu et permet une compréhension plus complète des politiques de contrôle et de la politique dans les États libéraux démocratiques.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , December 2010 , pp. 937 - 959
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2010

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