The National versus the Foreigner in South America
200 Years of Migration and Citizenship Law

A historical and comparative analysis investigating two hundred years of migration and citizenship laws in South America.

Diego Acosta (Author)

9781108442664, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 March 2019

296 pages, 1 map 1 table
18.8 x 24.6 x 1.6 cm, 0.78 kg

'Acosta's work provocatively challenges legal studies narrowly based on North American and European experiences. This book is an essential reference for the comparative analysis of migration and citizenship policies in South America and beyond.' David Scott FitzGerald, co-author of Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas

Since the turn of the century, South American governments and regional organisations have adopted the world's most open discourse on migration and citizenship. At a time when restrictive choices were becoming increasingly predominant around the world, South American policymakers presented their discourse as being both an innovative and exceptional 'new paradigm' and part of a morally superior, avant-garde path in policymaking. This book provides a critical examination of the South American legal framework through a historical and comparative analysis. Diego Acosta uses this analysis to assess whether the laws are truly innovative and exceptional, as well as evaluating their feasibility, strengths and weaknesses. By analysing the legal construction of the national and the foreigner in ten South American countries during the last two centuries, he demonstrates how different citizenship and migration laws have functioned, as well as showing why states have opted for certain regulation choices, and the consequence of these choices for state- and nation-building in the continent. An invaluable insight for anyone interested in global migration and citizenship discussions.

1. South America's central role in migration and citizenship law
Part I. The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: 2. Open borders in the nineteenth century: constructing the national, the citizen and the foreigner
3. The construction of the Hispano-American legal figure in the nineteenth century
4. The legal construction of the foreigner as undesirable in twentieth century South America
Part II. Consolidation and Transition into the Twenty-First Century: 5. The construction of the irregular immigrant: the principle of non-criminalisation of undocumented migration
6. The right to migrate as a fundamental right? The construction of the foreigner through equal treatment
7. Open borders and the construction of a South American citizen
8. Conclusion: constructing and deconstructing the foreigner: an innovative and exceptional approach?

Subject Areas: Human rights & civil liberties law [LNDC], Immigration law [LNDA1], Citizenship & nationality law [LNDA], International human rights law [LBBR], Public international law [LBB], International law [LB], Law [L]