The fourth freedom

Theories of migration and mobilities in ‘neo-liberal’ Europe

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2398055
AutoresA Favell (0000-0001-5801-6847, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, autor correspondente)
Ano2014
Volume17
Fascículo3
Páginas275-289
Data de publicação2014-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEuropean Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1368431014530926
OpenAlexW2097361389
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas31
Referências citadas34

The article challenges the orthodoxy of current critical readings of the European crisis that discuss the failings of the EU in terms of the triumph of 'neo-liberalism'. Defending instead a liberal view on international migration, which stresses the potentially positive economic, political and cultural benefits of market-driven forces enabling movements across borders, it details the various ways in which European regional integration has enabled the withdrawal of state control and restriction on certain forms of external and internal migration. This implementation of liberal ideas on the freedom of movement of persons has largely been of benefit to migrants, and both receiving and sending societies alike. These ideas are now threatened by democratic retrenchment. It is Britain, often held up as a negative example of 'neo-liberalism', which has proven to be the member state that most fulfils the EU's core adherence to principles of mobile, open, non-discriminatory labour markets. On this question, and despite its current anti-immigration politics, it offers a positive example of how Europe as a whole could benefit from more not less liberalization

Free market · Freedom of movement · Immigration · Law and economics · Liberalism · Liberalization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Retrenchment · Sociology · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies