An Analysis of Seyla Benhabib's The Rights of Others - Aliens, Residents and Citizens

In The Rights of Others, Benhabib argues that the transnational movement of people across the globe has brought to the fore fundamental dilemmas facing liberal democracies: tension between a state-s commitment to universal human rights, and to its sovereign self-determination and its claims to regulate its national borders on the other. Re-conceptualises the boundaries of political membership in liberal democracies instead proposing -porous- borders rather than open ones and a right to -just membership,- advocating cosmopolitan federalism in the tradition of Kant. Banhabib-s work goes to the heart of key issues faced in a world of forced displacement, Brexit, and increased protectionism.