Overview
I work in political philosophy, primarily on issues of global justice and the philosophy of migration. My recent published work focuses on the rights of refugees. In particular, I have written about the scope of the right to refuge in international law, as well as refugee rights in host states upon receipt of asylum. Currently, I am working on some new projects across a range of issues in the political philosophy of migration, including duties to internally displaced people, the justifiability of immigration enforcement practice, and the methodology of political philosophy.
Publications
(7) Internal Displacement and International Protection (Forthcoming).
In Political Philosophy and Internal Displacement ed. by Jamie Draper and David Owen. Abstract.
(6) Refugees and Family Unification (Forthcoming)
With Matthew Lister.
Forthcoming in Handbook of Migration Ethics ed. by Johanna Gördemann, Andreas Niederberger, and Uchenna Okeja (Dordrecht: Springer). Abstract.
(5) The Right to Family Unification for Refugees (2023)
Social Theory and Practice 49:1 (2023), 1-28. Abstract. | Published paper.
(4) The Wrong of Removing the Long-Settled (2021).
Philosophy and Public Issues 11:1 (2021), 183-215. Special issue ‘Migration and Justice for People on the Move’ (ed. by Gianfranco Pellegrino). Abstract. | Published paper.
(3) Crisis Nationalism: to what degree is national partiality acceptable during a global pandemic? (2021)
With Mike Gadomski, Dylan Manson, and Kok-Chor Tan.
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 24:1 (2021), 285-300. Abstract. | Published paper (open access).
(2) Against the Alienage Condition for Refugeehood (2020)
Law and Philosophy 32:9 (2020), 147-176. Abstract. | Published paper.
(1) Replacing the Persecution Condition for Refugeehood (2020)
Archiv fur Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 106:1 (2020), 4-18. In conjunction with the IVR Young Scholar Prize.
Abstract. | Published paper. | Ukrainian translation (trans. by Kateryna Buriakovska).
Professional Reports
(2) Mapping the Climate Emergency: Will Migration Change the World? (2020)
With Christine Carpenter.
Global Shifts Pre-Colloquium Report, Perry World House.
(1) Safe But Not Settled: The Impact of Family Separation on Refugees in the UK (2018)
With Anna Musgrave and Josephine Liebl
Oxfam and Refugee Council. Available here.
Works In-Progress
(3) A paper on refugee rights in host countries. Under review.
(2) Special Obligation. Invited to produce this entry for the IVR Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. In-progress.
(1) Internal Displacement and the Importance of Paying Attention. In-progress.
Dissertation Summary
Supervised by: Kok-Chor Tan.
Committee members: Brian Berkey and Samuel Freeman.
Defended April 2020. Available here.
My dissertation concerned the rights of refugees. It was a project of two parts.
Part One provided an account of the scope of the right to refuge in international law. Here, I rejected both the alienage and persecution requirements for refugee-status-eligibility outlined in the 1951 Refugee Convention. Instead, I defended a definition that extends the right to refuge to any individual whose human rights are urgently threatened, who has no effective recourse to their home government, and whose interests can only or best be satisfied by means of refuge.
In Part Two, I turned to the question of what refugee-hosting states and societies owe to refugees within their borders. Here, I provided a refugee-specific framework for future discussion on the topic of integration, and outline some high-level rights and responsibilities states, refugees, and members of the host society have to facilitate integration between refugees and their host communities. I also provided an account of the scope and nature of refugee family reunification rights, arguing that states have stronger, broader, and less-conditional duties to reunite refugees with their families, especially when those refugees are children.
Eilidh Beaton 