Abstract

After having analysed the concept of right to migrate and its constitutive relationship with the territorial sovereignty of the state, the article examines the legal sources and the institutional history of the differential treatment of emigration and immigration. The article shows that the general ban on immigration and the expansion of migration governance are quite recent developments in the history of Western legal and political culture and, following Foucault, argues that these developments should be viewed on the background of the transition from sovereignty to governmentality.