The Refugee as “Limit-Concept” in the Modern Nation-State

Abstract

This chapter contrasts the work of two of the most influential contemporary international voices on behalf of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers: Giorgio Agamben and Pope Francis. The work of Giorgio Agamben is at the centre of contemporary critical theory on the political status, treatment and plight of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Agamben identifies issues that impede progress in the contemporary understanding and response to refugees and the challenge their presence brings to the modern nation-state. The first part of the chapter locates the figure of the refugee within Agamben’s larger philosophical, legal and political project, identifying how that figure brings the principles of the nation-state to radical crisis. The second part of the chapter examines a selection of Pope Francis’ statements and comments on the status of migrants and refugees in light of Agamben’s analysis of the refugee crisis and its integral connection to the nation-state. This section highlights the limitations and inherent problems in the way that Pope Francis seeks to address this crisis, focusing on three topics: his appeal to Universal Human Rights; his use of liberal humanitarian (and theological) discourses; and the relation of the Holy See (the Vatican) to the nation-states of the world.