Real Realism on Migration

This paper addresses some of the core claims that advocates of realism about migration tend to make when reflecting on the conflicts that the movement of people across borders poses for contemporary liberal democracies. I argue that migration poses serious questions of justice but that such questions ought to be examined in the context of a larger analysis of capitalist injustice, the historical context of its production and the agents responsible for and affected by it. If we isolate the discussion of migration related problems and ground it on an abstract analysis of human rights to freedom of movement, morality of border controls or humanitarian compassion towards vulnerable people, we end up depriving ourselves of the most effective tools for identifying a remedy to them.