Philosophy in the Contemporary World

Volume 9, Issue 2, Fall/Winter 2002

Reflections on Transnationalism
Defining the Refugee

This paper explores Charles Taylor’s conception of an inclusive liberal polity. It argues that contemporary immigration challenges even Taylor’s inclusive liberalism by revealing that liberalism is inherently exclusionary and that the exclusionary tendency reinforces liberalism’s peculiar ability to cultivate refugees at both the national and transnational levels.