Solidarity at the margins : Arendt, refugees, and the inclusive politics of world-making

Abstract

Attention to the plight of refugees centers on how states should satisfy their legal obligations and comply with legal rules. We claim that the global refugee crisis necessitates focusing on political interaction between refugees and non-refugees, serving as a corrective to the depoliticization of the legalist approach. Hannah Arendt famously articulates a relational and interaction-oriented approach to political recognition with her notion of a “right to have rights.” We argue that Arendt’s notion can counter depoliticizing legalism, when supplemented by the theme of solidarity. After discussing how equality and solidarity are corequisites for recognition of the subjects of rights, we explore examples of solidaristic action that aim to counteract the “rightlessness” of refugees today, and consider how such action promotes freedom as inclusive world-making practices.