James Souter | University of Leeds (original) (raw)

Articles by James Souter

Journal of Social Philosophy, 2019

Good international citizenship is generally seen, either implicitly or explicitly, as being a mat... more Good international citizenship is generally seen, either implicitly or explicitly, as being a matter of fulfilling general duties in the realm of foreign policy. In this article, I challenge this prevailing view, by arguing that good international citizenship frequently involves discharging special responsibilities to protect, which in turn involves grants of asylum to refugees. While arguing that asylum should be seen as an important element of good international citizenship as a matter of course, it assumes an even more central role in this citizenship in two scenarios. The first is where humanitarian intervention is either imprudent or politically impossible without violating the procedural norms of international society. The second is when intervention—whether pursued for humanitarian or other reasons—creates refugees, and intervening states may thereby acquire special responsibilities to protect those refugees.

Political Studies 62 (2): 326–342

In this article, I contend that asylum should at times act as a form of reparation for past injus... more In this article, I contend that asylum should at times act as a form of reparation for past injustice. This function, I argue, stems from states' special obligation to provide asylum to refugees for whose lack of state protection they are responsible. After suggesting that the development of a theory of asylum as reparation necessitates a diachronic approach, I outline the conditions under which asylum should function reparatively, and draw on the reparations framework within international law to suggest that asylum can provide refugees with meaningful restitution, compensation and satisfaction. In particular, I seek to identify the conditions under which asylum constitutes the most fitting form of reparation for the harm of refugeehood that is available to states. Finally, I explore the question of how direct the causal link between a state's actions and a refugee's flight must be for the former to owe asylum to the latter.

Journal of Refugee Studies 27(2): 171-190

This article examines some of the theoretical and practical implications of understanding durable... more This article examines some of the theoretical and practical implications of understanding durable solutions as potential forms of reparation that can be offered to refugees for the unjust harms of displacement. It begins by making a basic moral case that durable solutions can act as forms of reparation, exploring the ways in which the creation or restoration of effective citizenship in a state through one of the durable solutions can go some way to providing restitution, compensation and satisfaction for refugees. It then discusses some considerations which need to be taken into account when seeking to identify which state should offer which durable solution as reparation to which refugees in any given case, such as the refugees’ choice, their place of residence and social ties, their sense of group identity, and questions of state capacity and efficiency. Observing that bestowing a reparative function upon durable solutions would potentially create a tension with their classical humanitarian rationale, it moves to explore how this tension might be navigated, with particular reference to the question of how states with limited resources should prioritize the needs of refugees for whose flight they are morally responsible vis-a-vis refugees for whose flight they are not responsible.

In the summer of 2014 Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) emerged as a threat to the Iraqi peo... more In the summer of 2014 Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) emerged as a threat to the Iraqi people. This article asks whether the UK and Australia had a ‘special’ responsibility to protect (R2P) those being threatened. It focuses on two middle-ranking powers (as opposed to the US) in order to highlight the significance of special responsibilities that flow only from the principle of reparation rather than capability. The article contends that despite casting their response in terms of a general responsibility, the UK and Australia did indeed bear a special responsibility based on this principle. Rather than making the argument that the 2003 coalition that invaded Iraq created ISIS, it is argued that it is the vulnerable position in which Iraqis were placed as a consequence of the invasion that grounds the UK and Australia's special responsibility to protect. The article addresses the claim that the UK and Australia were not culpable because they did not act negligently or recklessly in 2003 by drawing on Tony Honoré's concept of ‘outcome responsibility’. The finding of a special responsibility is significant because it is often thought of as being more demanding than a general responsibility. In this context, the article further argues that the response of these two states falls short of reasonable moral expectations. This does not mean the UK and Australia should be doing more militarily. R2P does not begin and end with military action. Rather the article argues that the special responsibility to protect can be discharged through humanitarian aid and a more generous asylum policy.

In recent years, British refugee organisations have built up a substantial body of evidence that ... more In recent years, British refugee organisations have built up a substantial body of evidence that the United Kingdom’s procedure for refugee status determination (RSD) suffers from a ‘culture of disbelief’ which has led to the unjust refusal of many asylum claims. In this article, I draw on the sociological work of Stanley Cohen to argue that much of the evidence presented by these organisations also indicates the existence of a parallel ‘culture of denial’. This evidence strongly suggests that disbelief is often one manifestation of a deeper pattern of denial, such as when disbelief is the end result of a prior refusal to engage with the facts of the case. The notion of a ‘culture of denial’ also allows for the possibility that some asylum seekers are refused despite the belief that they are entitled to refugee status.

Politics, Jan 1, 2009

This article explores and defends the pragmatist approach to human rights exemplified by Michael ... more This article explores and defends the pragmatist approach to human rights exemplified by Michael Ignatieff, which seeks to justify them in terms of their practical ability to reduce suffering and abuse. It then presents Alain Badiou’s radical critique of this kind of ‘ethic of human rights’, which claims
that it presupposes a negative conception of the human as a victim and leads to a highly conservative politics. However, Badiou’s arguments are largely rejected, since they distort the conception of humanity that underlies this ethic, and misrepresent its actual understanding of the role of
human rights in politics.

in-spire.org

This article questions the extent to which human rights have the ability to emancipate, by scruti... more This article questions the extent to which human rights have the ability to emancipate, by scrutinising the conceptions of power and emancipation that underlie contemporary human
rights discourse. It begins by considering a pragmatic approach known as the ‘liberalism of fear,’ which seeks to justify human rights by stressing their emancipatory capacities. The presuppositions concerning the nature of power that lie beneath this understanding of human
rights are then identified, and are found to be very close to what Michel Foucault dubbed the ‘juridical notion of power.’ Such presuppositions are challenged through an exploration of
Foucault’s productive model of power, and the implications of his ideas for the topic at hand are assessed. The article then considers the ways in which the ‘liberalism of fear’ may be
reconceptualised to accommodate Foucault’s insights, and finally argues that, whilst human rights have no inherent emancipatory force, their contingent tendency to emancipate may be advanced by adopting a more realistic view of their capacities, and by supplementing them with other emancipatory programmes.

British Journal of Undergraduate Philosophy, Jan 1, 2006

Blog pieces by James Souter

A humanitarian approach to asylum on its own is incomplete, argues James Souter, since it pays no... more A humanitarian approach to asylum on its own is incomplete, argues James Souter, since it pays no attention to who bears responsibility for causing refugee crises in the first place. The UK at times bears an obligation to offer asylum as a form of reparation to refugees, in particular towards Iraqi and Afghan refugees.

Open Democracy

It is one thing for rigorous research to influence policy, and another for that policy to then go... more It is one thing for rigorous research to influence policy, and another for that policy to then go and achieve its intended positive outcome. James Souter argues that Refugee and Forced Migration studies has an important, yet ultimately subsidiary role in the task of improving the lives of refugees and forced migrants.

The British tabloids and the Home Office are united by their assumption that asylum seekers who l... more The British tabloids and the Home Office are united by their assumption that asylum seekers who lie during their claims are undeserving of protection. Yet this view runs contrary both to widely held moral principle and refugee law. The real issue at stake is not the honesty of asylum seekers, but their risk on return, argues James Souter

Having identified a culture of disbelief at the heart of the British Home Office, campaigners for... more Having identified a culture of disbelief at the heart of the British Home Office, campaigners for refugee rights must also address its culture of denial, says James Souter

Minor publications by James Souter

Contemporary Challenges in Securing Human Rights, 2015

The atrocities inside Syria have caused a refugee crisis outside that state. Aside from dead bodi... more The atrocities inside Syria have caused a refugee crisis outside that state. Aside from dead bodies, refugees are perhaps the most obvious manifestation of atrocity crimes. People protect themselves by fleeing persecution and violence. Because the responsibility to protect (R2P) tells us the international community has a responsibility to assist these people and to protect them it surely implies guaranteeing a form of asylum. Again, this predates R2P. The 1951 Refugee Convention has long since articulated a responsibility to those with a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’. But if the R2P norm is about creating the political will so that states fulfil their responsibilities as a matter of course, then R2P
(both the scholarly articulation of it and state practice) is not fully-fledged.

Book reviews by James Souter

Talks by James Souter

Call for Papers ETHICS AND WORLD POLITICS WORKING GROUP SEMINAR 17 January 2018, 12.30 – 6.30p... more Call for Papers

ETHICS AND WORLD POLITICS WORKING GROUP SEMINAR

17 January 2018, 12.30 – 6.30pm
School of Global Studies, University of Sussex

Papers are invited for the forthcoming Ethics and World Politics Working Group Seminar.

The E&WP Seminars offer an ongoing forum for scholars to present, discuss and develop the latest work on the normative dimensions of world politics. Papers may be on any topic relating to the themes of the Working Group.

The next seminar will be hosted and co-sponsored by the Sussex Rights and Justice Research Centre and the Centre for Advanced International Theory at the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex.

Please submit 200-word abstracts to both ewpg.group@bisa.ac.uk and rightsjustice@sussex.ac.uk by 17 November 2017.

It is anticipated that the seminar will kick off at 12.30 and with a light lunch provided, as well as refreshments during the session.

BISA members who are postgraduate students or not in full-time employment are eligible to apply for a bursary to help cover travel costs. Please get in touch with the Working Group convenors if you have any questions.

Books by James Souter

Asylum as Reparation: Refuge and Responsibility for the Harms of Displacement, 2022

This book argues that states have a special obligation to offer asylum as a form of reparation to... more This book argues that states have a special obligation to offer asylum as a form of reparation to refugees for whose flight they are responsible. It shows the great relevance of reparative justice, and the importance of the causes of contemporary forced migration, for our understanding of states’ responsibilities to refugees. Part I explains how this view presents an alternative to the dominant humanitarian approach to asylum in political theory and some practice. Part II outlines the conditions under which asylum should act as a form of reparation, arguing that a state owes this form of asylum to refugees where it bears responsibility for the unjustified harms that they experience, and where asylum is the most fitting form of reparation available. Part III explores some of the ethical implications of this reparative approach to asylum for the workings of states’ asylum systems and the international politics of refugee protection.