2014 C.B. Macpherson Prize

Winner: Joseph H. Carens

The Ethics of Immigration (Oxford University Press, 2013)

Excerpt from jury report: Joseph Carens’ The Ethics of Immigration is arguably the most substantial and enlightening discussion of the normative issues raised by international immigration available. Using the contextual normative analysis that he pioneered in his earlier work, Carens here offers a nuanced discussion of the rights and duties of various categories of migrants and of the receiving communities. Also contributing to an ideal theory of immigration, Carens rearticulates his controversial yet path-breaking argument in favor of open borders: that is, the free movement of people across the world. Carens’ treatise exemplifies how political theory can guide us through both our difficult political problems and our more fundamental meditation on the demands of social justice.