New Challenges for an Open Society

Abstract

The movement of peoples over the past few decades had a considerable impact. Immigration today is profoundly different from the displacement of populations in the past centuries: it really is the most visible aspect of globalization, which gives many people a sense that their familiar world is vanishing. The subject of immigration and integration – and therefore of citizenship – creates uncertainty because it affects so many areas of life: education systems, welfare provision, constitutional rights such as freedom of expression. Natives and newcomers often seem far apart, and there is a diffuse inability of receiving societies to find ways of dealing with immigrants. In the latter end of the article, the author examines how the conflicts surrounding migration can bring about a renewal of society as a whole, leading the way for an open society.