CFP: Journal of Global Ethics Special Article Section: Refugee Crisis: The Borders of Human Mobility

Guest editors: Melina Duarte, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen,
      Serena Parekh and Annamari Vitikainen 

Submission of abstracts: asap

Submission of papers: April 21st 2016

Direct enquiries and submissions to: [email protected]

On September 29, the Missing Migrants Project (IOM) published a report stating that so far, in 2015, there have being almost 4,000 deaths in the world related to border crossing. This means that on average, from January to late September, around 14 persons a day have died trying to cross the borders. The number of incidents is increasing, so is the level of despair. The Mediterranean case exposes perhaps the most tragic incidents due to the high number of fatalities, but many immigrants also die in the South Pacific, U.S/Mexico border, Caribbean, North Africa, Middle East and elsewhere. This crisis has, so far, been approached from two opposing angles that, although often blurred in practice, could, in theory, be systematized into protectionists and humanitarian approaches. The protectionist approaches take as their starting point the rights and responsibilities of the receiving nations and their current members, while the humanitarian approaches focus on the human suffering and the immediate needs of the refugees. Neither of these approaches, however, is able to capture the complexity of the situation, nor to provide stable and feasible alternatives to the crisis. 

We look for contributions for a special section of Journal of Global Ethics that will enlighten our understanding of the current refugee situation, advance the ongoing debate on the rights and responsibilities of the involved parties, and provide innovative approaches for tackling the situation. Contributions may fall within one or more of the themes below:

• •Past and present. How does the current refugee crisis differ from earlier ones? What are the relevant similarities and differences that could illuminate the means of solving the situation? How temporary is the refugee situation? What are the future challenges that the displacement of persons and peoples might bring?  
• •Domestic challenges. What are the effects of increasing human mobility and the number of refugees for domestic public policies, such as integration or social welfare policies? What role should different actors, including the European Union, take in the treatment of the refugee situation?
• •Global structures. What can the current refugee situation tell us about the demands of global justice? Does this situation demand a reconceptualization of global and international institutions, legitimacy of state borders, or the grounds for basic human rights?
• •Identity and representation. What are the effects of the current crisis to human psychology or to individual and collective identities? How does media (including social media) represent the situation? What role might media play in the responses to the refugee crisis?

Please feel free to contact the editors with your queries, and please indicate your interest in advance of the deadline, if convenient, as that would aid in the planning for this section. 

For submission guidelines, see the article style guide and referencing guide.

Journal of Global Ethics is a SCImago first-quartile ranked journal in philosophy. Its aims & scope include social science and practitioner perspectives on all aspects of the theory and practice of global ethics and ethics in the context of globalization.
Editors: Sirkku Hellsten & Eric Palmer.

A Routledge/Taylor&Francis Journal http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjge20/current

Call for papers available at: