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1. At the Intersection of Domestic Acts and Globalization: The Case of Irregular Migrants15

Author:
Federico Daniel Burlon
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Sixty-five percent of the Netherlands is below sea level: ten thousand miles of dykes, gates, and dams hold back the sea. As the water besieges the land, some politicians and scholars claim that immigrants are doing the same to the country. On the other side of the Atlantic, immigration to the United States also has been compared to a tide that must be contained. The fears surrounding immigration have been one of the focal points raised by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and by his successor, Ban Ki-moon. As a result of the dramatic increase of migration flows and the large number of irregular migrants worldwide, immigration has moved from low to high politics. Fuelled by a mentality that sees domestic security as threatened, the salience of irregular immigration is grounded in parallels drawn between the control of illegal immigration and the control of crime. According to Adam Crawford, the conflation of illegal immigration with crime has led Western governments to rule through the politics of fear of crime and insecurity. The impact of these policies on irregular immigrants illustrates what John Tomlinson calls the reflexive nature of globalization. An insightful avenue to take in order to explore globalization is the study of human mobility. Globalization has placed immigrants at the nexus of the increase in migration due to lower transportation costs, the development of the international human rights regime, and the enactment of increasingly restrictive immigration policies by developed countries. The interplay between these processes crystallizes in detention centers, and renders immigrants vulnerable to human rights violations. Studying globalization from a comparative perspective, this essay analyzes the impact of the International Human Rights Regime (IHRR) on American and Dutch immigration detention policies. In the last decades, detention has become the established way of dealing with irregular migrants. It lamentably obscures various essential examples of alternative legislation.
Topic:
Globalization, Human Rights, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Netherlands

2. Immigrant Children and Globalization: Formal Education in Producing New Citizens

Author:
Lelde Ilzina
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan once expressed that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity. When globalization is viewed as a force that creates a tide of incentives against the artificial levies of national borders, the comparison seems accurate. Flows of capital, goods, services, people, and information crush against the formally defined stringent borders of nation-states, not permanently erasing but undoubtedly loosening them. Implying the irrefutable authenticity of globalization, Annan claims that its inevitability does not mean we should accept globalization as a law that―allows only heavyweights to survive. On the contrary: we must make globalization an engine that lifts people out of hardship and misery, not a force that holds them down.‖ Globalization is an indubitable reality that benefits some and challenges others. To ignore it or pronounce it fictional is not only unwise, but harmful. Such outlook prohibits one from acknowledging the rapid changes occurring in the world and impedes the process of adaptation. Instead, one should strive to unravel the complexities of globalization, recognize its failures, and make a commendable effort to correct its shortcomings.
Topic:
United Nations