Sovereign Discomfort: Can Liberal Norms Lead to Increasing Immigration Detention?

Liberal democracies betray discomfort at public scrutiny of immigration detention, neglecting to release statistics, cloaking detention in misleading names, and limiting what they define as deprivation of liberty. These countries have also expanded their detention activities and encourageed their neighbors to do the same. What explains this simultaneous reticence towards and embrace of detention?

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Who Is Responsible for Harm in Immigration Detention? Models of Accountability for Private Corporations

This paper argues that private corporations can and should be held responsible for structural injustices that take place in immigration detention regimes in which they operate. It draws on literature from business ethics to evaluate various ethical arguments for assessing corporate responsibility, emphasising models that may lead to the prevention of harm and suffering. In […]

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Privatization in the International Arena

Michael Flynn presented a paper on non-state actor involvement in immigration detention regimes at this conference, which was held at the California Western School of Law in San Diego and cosponsored by the University of California, San Diego, and the Scholars Strategy Network. More information is avaiable here. […]

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International Studies Association

Cecilia Cannon, former research assistant at the GDP, presented a paper she coauthored with Michael Flynn at the ISA’s 56th Annual Convention in New Orleans (18-21 February 2015). The paper was titled “Does Privatization Explain the Poor Treatment of People in Immigration Detention?” […]

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The Privatization of Immigration Detention: Towards a Global View

The phrase “private prison” has become a term of opprobrium, and for good reason. There are numerous cases of mistreatment and mismanagement at such institutions. However, in the context of immigration detention, this caricature hides a complex phenomenon that is driven by a number of different factors and involves a diverse array of actors who […]

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