Stranger in a Strange Land: The Alien and the State

AuthorChristoph Bezemek
PositionInstitute of Public Law and Political Science, University of Graz
Pages95-108
e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law
ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X
http://www.ijil.org
© 2019 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press
is essay was originally draed as a contribution to the 20th Annual Meeting of the
Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities at Stanford Law School,
on Mar 31 and Apr 1 2017. e line of argument presented is based on a previous paper
written in German titled ‘Der Fremde: Migration in staatstheoretischer Perspektive’
included in Julia Iliopoulos-Strangas ea, ed., Migration: Neue Herausforderungen für
Europa, für die Staatssouveränität und für den sozialen Rechtsstaat (2017). I would
like to thank William MacNeil for encouraging me to transform my presentation
into a (somewhat coherent) manuscript for publication, Gisela Kristoferitsch for her
research assistance and Myriam Becker for helping me completing the manuscript.
strangEr in a strangE land
the AlIen And the StAte
Christoph Bezemek
Institute of Public Law and Political Science, University of Graz
Email: christoph.bezemek@uni-graz.at
e relationship of the stranger and the political community has traditionally
been at the very core of various theoretical, historical and mythical accounts; in
dening membership, in answering who is to be included, accepted and (thus)
protected, in safeguarding a groups position and its coherence. e essay argues
that many of these accounts still prove to be of great value in a legal and a politi-
cal perspective: None of the questions raised today when it comes to the phenom-
enon of migration and inclusion are particularly new; rather they have been
addressed frequently over the last centuries. We would be well-advised to rely
on a broader perspective, on the teachings of history, and the insights of political
philosophy when facing the intellectual and political challenges of our time.
Keywords: Alien, Foreigner, Hospitality, Human Rights, Language, Nation,
Shibboleth, Stranger.

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