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15.02.2017 Call for Papers - German Law Journal - Constitutional Identity in the Age of Global Immigration

GERMAN LAW JOURNAL

Invites Submissions for a Special Issue on:

Constitutional Identity in the Age of Global Immigration

Guest Editors:
Professor Dr. Jürgen Bast
Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen
Faculty of Law

and

Dr. Liav Orgad
WZB Berlin Social Science Center
“Global Citizenship” Research Group

Summary

Immigration, more than anything else, has revived the question of collective identity.
Immigrants encourage nation-states to define themselves, as George Orwell noted: “It is only
when you meet someone of a different culture from yourself that you begin to realize what your
own beliefs really are.” Immigration policy echoes constitutional identity by mirroring not only
the qualities that “we” value in others, but also by reflecting the essentials that define “us” as a
nation. In a sense, drafting immigration requirements is a form of nation-building. Immigration
and citizenship requirements—the requirements that “they” must fulfill in order to join “us”—
define “our” way of living, form of thinking, and mode of good behavior. By investigating the
requirements for becoming a citizen, we can learn a great deal about who “we” are as a nation.

Global migration yields political shifts of historical significance, profoundly shaking up world
politics as recently manifested by the refugee crisis, the Brexit referendum, and throughout the
US election. The migration crisis has enhanced the already-existing discussion on justifiable and
unjustifiable attempts by states to protect their constitutional essentials by using selective
immigration policy. How can liberal states welcome a large-scale of immigrants (and refugees)
without fundamentally changing their constitutional heritage, forsaking their liberal traditions, or
slipping into nationalism? This question is one of the greatest challenges facing liberalism today.

In recent years, liberal democracies have implemented a variety of immigration means,
directing immigrants to embrace the customs and values of the host country. Global migration
has produced moral panic and led to the adoption of proactive policies. Integration is mandatory,
sanctioned, and test-based. It applies to all types of immigrants, including family members, and
is more invasive than the classic requirements of familiarity with a country's history and civics.
In some states, the frontiers are moving beyond the territorial borders with the creation of a new
concept—integration from abroad. Recent immigration laws in Western countries reveal that the
invitation of liberal states to “be one of us” is often an invitation to be one of us “by being us.”

German Law Journal invites submissions to a Special Issue on the topic of “Constitutional
Identity in the Age of Global Immigration.” The issue will discuss national, regional, and global
challenges presented by international migration, as well as legal and ethical dilemmas that have
arisen as a result of massive population movements. Specifically, the Special Issue will focus on:

1) Constitutional Identity: examining the theory and concept of constitutional
identity—its normative sources, methods of identification, mechanisms of legal
protection, etc.—and how states define collective identity in their constitutions;

2) Immigration Policy and Constitutional Design: exploring immigration and
citizenship policies that are taken in order to foster certain forms of collective
identities, and whether is it justified to impose restrictions on immigration and
access to citizenship in order to protect different notions of constitutional identity,

3) Immigration and Europeanness: analyzing interrelations between EU jurisdiction
and the sovereignty of Member States to define their constitutional structure.
How should the EU govern the refugee/migrant crisis, bearing in mind both the
protection of refugees/migrants and the constitutional identity of Member States?

4) Global Migration Crisis: investigating how should international law govern
immigration in light of the challenge to states’ identity and self-determination?
Should there be some responsibility-sharing mechanisms in international law?

Submission Procedure

We are interested in articles analyzing these and related issues under different approaches
(international, comparative, theoretical), disciplines (law, philosophy, social psychology), and
levels (national, regional, international) Interested scholars should send a CV and an abstract
(up to 750 words) by February 15, 2017 to: lorgad@zedat.fu-berlin.de. The abstract will form the
basis of an original article (8,000 to 10,000 words) to be submitted on June 15, 2017
(invitations to submit an article will be sent no later than March 1, 2017). Articles should be
submitted according to the German Law Journal’s technical and stylistic requirements, its style
guide and citation format (available here). Final articles are subject to a peer-review procedure.

We plan to hold a workshop with selected authors at the Center for Global Constitutionalism,
the WZB Berlin Social Science Center in summer 2017. Authors who are interested to
participate in the workshop will be responsible for their own travel and lodging expenses. In
exceptional cases of financial need, awards of up to 1,000 Euro will be made by the organizers to
authors who clearly specify that need in their application.

Please direct inquiries in connection with the Special Issue to the editors, Professor Jurgen
Bast () and Professor Liav Orgad ().

About the German Law Journal

The German Law Journal covers developments in German law, European law, international
law, and comparative law. It is an engaging forum for comparative and interdisciplinary research
and commentary and has secured a place among the world's leading academic forums concerned
with transnational law. Measured by its impact factor, the German Law Journal is the leading
“online, peer-reviewed” law journal of any subject matter; the second-ranked journal of any
format covering European law; and the leading German law journal. Google Scholar Metrics
rank the German Law Journal third in the category “European Law.” The Journal has a no-fee
subscriber list of more than 5,000 readers. Its articles attract thousands of downloads in the first
year of publication. It is regularly cited in decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court.

About the Editors

Jürgen Bast is a Professor of Public Law and European Law at Justus Liebig University
Giessen. Earlier he was a Full Professor of International and European Law at Radboud University
Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for
Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. His research interests
are European and international migration law, refugee and citizenship studies, and European
constitutional law, in particular the future of economic governance & the welfare state in Europe.

Liav Orgad is the Head of the Research Group “Global Citizenship Law” at the WZB Berlin
Social Science Center; a Part-Time Professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced
Studies, the European University Institute (EUI); an Associate Professor at the Lauder School of
Government, IDC Herzliya; and a member of the Global Young Academy. He is the author of
The Cultural Defense of Nations: A Liberal Theory of Majority Rights (OUP, 2016). His research
interests include constitutional theory, international law, citizenship theory, and global migration.

 

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