Abstract

Analyzing the concept of freedom of movement both in accordance with the norms of the European Convention of Human Rights and in the case law of the Court of Strasbourg, it has emerged that there are some malfunctions in the regulation and control of the migratory phenomenon in the European context that are structural and inevitable. This paper intends to show how the absence of the right of immigration can create some malfunctions in the Human Rights law and how this is connected with our concept of identity. Indeed, we can say that inasmuch as we identify ourselves with the liberal-democratic regimes which form our communities, the characteristic institutions of such regimes represent a fundamental reference for the processes of identity building. In a context of multilevel constitutionalism the influence of international institutions and treaties allows human rights to enter into the formalized processes of identity building. The processes contributing to the self-comprehension of a political community need the formal structures of identity building, such as citizenship, to operate correctly. From that point of view malfunctions in the formal structures cannot but have effects on the same processes of identity building.