Justifying the Right of Return
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21749884 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Miller (0000-0002-3868-5792, University of Oxford, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 369-396 |
| Publication date | 2020-07-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theoretical Inquiries in Law (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1565-1509 • E-ISSN: 1565-3404 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/til-2020-0018 |
| OpenAlex | W3088677630 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in mind, this Article asks whether there is a human right to return to one’s country, and if so what justifies it. Although such a right is widely recognized in international law, who can claim it and on what basis remains ambiguous; the ambiguity is revealed by asking what “country” means in “return to one’s country.” I argue that to treat the right simply as an adjunct of citizenship is too narrow an approach, even though the right has a role to play in managing inter-state relations. As with other human rights, personal autonomy might be proposed as a justification for the right of return. But although the autonomy interest in developing long-term life-plans may explain the right not to be forcibly displaced from the place where you live, it cannot explain why there is a right to return once displaced, particularly in the case of people who enjoy an adequate set of options elsewhere. Instead we need to invoke the need to belong to a homeland, access to which the right of return protects. The Article explores a homeland’s different dimensions and considers various respects in which the need to belong might be thought too indeterminate to ground a right. Finally it distinguishes and evaluates the return claims of Jews and Palestinians to Israel/ Palestine; only Palestinians whose homeland this remains can claim a human right of return as analyzed and defended here
Ambiguity · Autonomy · Citizenship · Homeland · Human rights · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · International Law and Aviation · International Law and Human Rights · Law · Middle East Politics and Society · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.8 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |