Abstract
The emergence of international human rights law and the end of the White Australia immigration policy were events of great historical moment. Yet, they were not harbingers of a new dawn in migration law. This is because migration law in Australia is best understood as part of a longer jurisprudential tradition in which certain political-economic interests have shaped the relationship between the foreigner and the sovereign. Eve Lester explores how this relationship has been wrought by a political-economic desire to regulate race and labour; a desire that has produced the claim that there exists an absolute sovereign right to exclude or condition the entry and stay of foreigners. Lester calls this putative right a discourse of ‘absolute sovereignty’. She argues that ‘absolute sovereignty’ talk continues to be a driver of migration lawmaking, shaping the foreigner-sovereign relation, and making thinkable some of the world’s harshest asylum policies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Number of pages | 374 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781316779910 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781107173279 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |