The politicization of international migration: human rights and national sovereignty

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the response of developed countries to international immigration through restrictive legislation. The cause of this reaction is not only cyclical, derived from the contemporary crisis of capitalism, as it also lies in the structural formation of the countries that attract immigrants. The basis of the political analysis undertaken here is the understanding of the paradox between the sovereignty of each country and the universalization of human rights, especially of immigrants. Following a line of thinking similar to Hanna Arendt’s, the present analysis of the politicization of international migration is based on its history from the second half of the nineteenth century until the present day, emphasizing three major periods: pre-World War I, recognized as the era of imperialism, the period between the two World Wars, and the postwar period, marked especially by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in 1948.