Constitutional identity in the age of global migration

Abstract

Global migration yields political shifts of historical significance, profoundly shaking up world politics as manifested by the European refugee crisis, the Brexit referendum, and throughout the US election. The refugee crisis has enhanced the already-existing discussion on justifiable and unjustifiable attempts by nation-states to safeguard their constitutional “essentials” by reinforcing border controls and using selective immigration and citizenship policies. How can liberal states, or a supranational Union formed by such states, welcome immigrants and treat refugees as future denizens without fundamentally changing their constitutional identity, forsaking their liberal tradition, or slipping into populist nationalism? This Special Issue attempts to give answers to these questions by addressing five themes: (1) theories of constitutional identity; (2) the changing constitution of migration societies; (3) the rise of illiberal notions of constitutional identity; (4) immigration as a challenge to liberal constitutional identity; and (5) constitutional elements of the international and European legal order.