Reconceptualising immigration: from exceptionality to normality (RECIM) is a PRIN research project that challenges the mainstream view of migration as an essentially exogenous and pathological feature of the political, social and economic setup of liberal democratic societies.
The project aims to build a new way to conceptualize migration, based on an account of reality that is both truer to fact and more apt to inform normative and policy theorizing. Migration can be redescribed as a form of social cooperation between groups of different geographical origin, who through repeated interaction come to form reciprocal expectations and obligations.
We explore the theoretical viability, the normative underpinnings, and the policy implications of a narrative of migration centred on cooperation and on the idea that migration constitutes a normal and stable feature of the economic and political order of liberal democratic societies.
Research Objectives
The project has three distinct objectives:
(1) To develop a view of migration as cooperation – a “Cooperation View of Migration” – , which challenges mainstream narratives on migration. In building this alternative narrative, the project will refer to a neo-Humean model of cooperation, which frames cooperation as not necessarily equal and fair. This Humean account explains why cooperation can be misrecognized by the parties involved, while it opens up the possibility of criticism of the forms of unfairness and exploitation that taint current arrangements of cooperation.
(2) To explore the normative foundations and implications of the Cooperation View of Migration with reference to the notions of equality, fairness, toleration, and voluntariness, with the purpose of critically assessing the fair terms of cooperation between migrants and sedentary members of the destination society.
(3) To analyze the implications of the Cooperation View of Migration for political institutions and democratic legitimacy, by challenging the assumption that the justice and democratic legitimacy of political institutions are a function of their relation to an essentially sedentary citizenry.
Project Contact
For inquiries about the research project, please contact the principal investigator, Prof. Valeria Ottonelli.
Funding
The research project is generously funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (PRIN - Progetti di ricerca di rilevante interesse nazionale).