publication

The Architecture of International Migration Law: A Deconstructivist Design of Complexity and Contradiction

Authors:
Vincent CHETAIL
2017

International migration law can be described and conceptualized as a deconstructivist architecture both literally and metaphorically. It is an architecture of fragmentation based on dissonance and asymmetry that questions the traditions of harmony, unity, and stability. The foundation stones of International Migration Law have been set up by scholars through the dialectic between hospitality and sovereignty, while its overall design has been shaped by states in a rather erratic way. This provocative architecture produces an impression of controlled chaos, a feeling of incompleteness and unease that have never been so acute than today.