Who Should Be Allowed to Live in a Country?

Note: Café Philo is a way of meeting interesting, inquiring people who enjoy talking about life's big issues and conundrums in a convivial atmosphere, rather than a heavy-duty philosophy seminar. Read more about our approach here.

We live in a world where the accident of birth determines life chances more than anything else. A child born in Switzerland has vastly different opportunities than one born in Somalia—not through any merit or failing of their own, but simply through geographical luck. Yet we maintain borders that preserve these inequalities, often with armed guards and increasingly sophisticated technology.

The Fundamental Question
If we truly believe all humans are equal, how can we justify a system where citizenship operates like inherited privilege? As one philosopher puts it, modern citizenship resembles “feudal birthright”—an accident of birth that dramatically shapes your entire life.
Yet the alternative—completely open borders—raises equally profound questions. If anyone could move anywhere, would receiving communities have any right to preserve their character, culture, or democratic decisions? Can we force moral obligations on people who never consented to them?

Current Realities
The world has changed dramatically since we last discussed this. Ukrainians fleeing war received immediate welcome across Europe, while others making similar journeys face detention and deportation. This inconsistency reveals something uncomfortable about our moral frameworks—that proximity, cultural similarity, or even the type of conflict might matter more than we’d like to admit.
Meanwhile, climate change looms as a new driver of displacement, challenging our traditional categories of who “deserves” protection.

Questions to Ponder
The Birthright Lottery

• Is there any moral justification for citizenship being inherited rather than chosen? What makes someone more “entitled” to live somewhere because their ancestors did?

Rights in Tension

• Whose rights matter most: the person fleeing danger, the farmer wanting to hire foreign workers, or the community worried about rapid change? Can these ever be balanced fairly?

The Democracy Dilemma

• If democratic decisions affect outsiders (through border controls), shouldn’t outsiders have a say in those decisions? Or does democracy require boundaries to function?

Global vs Local Obligations

• Do wealthy nations have stronger duties to help people globally, or to their own citizens first? Can both be right simultaneously?

Cultural Evolution

• Cultures have always changed through migration—is trying to preserve them a valid goal, or an impossible and potentially harmful one?

Future Choices

• If climate change displaces millions, how do we decide who goes where? First-come-first-served? Greatest need? Cultural compatibility? Random lottery?

Conclusion
At its heart, this isn’t really about policy—it’s about what kind of moral community we want to be. Do we see ourselves as members of distinct nations with special obligations to fellow citizens, or as global citizens with equal duties to all humanity?

Perhaps the most honest answer is that we’re torn between both visions, and this tension creates the genuine dilemmas we face. There are no easy answers, only choices that reveal our deepest values about human equality, democratic self-determination, and what we owe each other across the arbitrary lines drawn on maps.

Join us for what promises to be a challenging discussion about one of the most fundamental questions of our time: in a world of vast inequality, who belongs where?

Further Reading and Viewing
Videos

• Migration as a universal human right | Alvaro Huerta
  A thought-provoking argument that migration should be viewed as a fundamental human right, challenging traditional views of border control.
• Immigration is not the problem. Immigrants are actually a solution | Sheryl Winarick
  An immigration lawyer’s perspective on how immigrants solve problems rather than create them, with practical examples from Portugal.
• Full Debate: Is Immigration a Human Right? | Bryan Caplan vs Christopher Wellman
  A formal philosophical debate between two leading academics on whether there’s a basic human right to migrate freely between countries.
• Joseph Carens - The Ethics of Immigration
  A lecture by the leading philosopher on immigration ethics, covering rights of irregular migrants and social membership.

Online Articles & Debates

• Immigration - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  The most comprehensive philosophical overview available online, covering all major moral arguments for and against immigration controls.
• Philosophy Now: Philosophers & Immigration Control
  An accessible critique of how philosophers approach immigration, questioning whether abstract theories address real-world moral issues.
  BBC Radio 4: Moral Maze - Immigration
  A classic debate examining how moral arguments about immigration have evolved over 25 years, featuring multiple perspectives on national identity and global responsibility.
• Philosophy Now: Cosmopolitanism & Immigration
  An exploration of cosmopolitan philosophy and whether viewing all humans as equally valuable requires open borders.