A liberal-democratic theory of borders

My dissertation aims to intervene in to the debate on the legitimacy of border controls. Currently, the debate is inhabited by two main positions: the first one contesting the legitimacy of border controls on the basis of the principles of individual freedom and moral equality, the second one defending the legitimacy of border controls by referring to the idea of collective sovereignty. In my work I try to defend a position alternative to both perspectives. What I argue is that the legitimacy of border controls cannot be neither affirmed nor denied a priori. Rather, whether the exercise of border controls is legitimate depends on who approves them. In this perspective, I maintain that border controls are legitimate to the extent to which they are accepted within an ideal discursive situation in which both members of receiving communities and would-be migrants are included.