PhD Candidate in Philosophy of Law: Philosophical Foundations of Migration Law

1. Introduction

Do you have or shortly expect to obtain a Master's degree in Law and do you have a special interest in the philosophy of law? Or do you have or shortly expect to obtain a Master's degree in Philosophy and do you have a special interest in law? If so, then you may be the PhD candidate Radboud University's Faculty of Law is looking for. You will be given the opportunity to conduct valuable research and prepare yourself for your next step in the academic world or professional field. 

2. Job description

We are looking for a PhD candidate in Philosophy of Law in the area of the philosophical foundations of international migration law. As a PhD candidate, you will be expected to write your own research proposal in this field, and complete a doctoral thesis within four years.

The phenomenon of migration and the experience and perspective of the migrant prompt critical reflection on the fundamental principles of liberal democracy. The rights granted and protected by states are in important respects limited to their own citizens. At the same time, fundamental rights, understood as human rights, are considered universal. Pointing to the tension between state sovereignty and human rights, Hannah Arendt spoke of the ’paradox’ of human rights, which became particularly manifest in a world dominated by nation-states striving for the identity of state, people (or nation), and territory.

In contemporary philosophy of law, the theme of migration is often addressed in a normative manner, presupposing the perspective of the ’receiving’ state or political community. This approach carries the risk of tacitly reproducing the conceptual assumptions of the existing legal and policy consensus rather than making these assumptions explicit and examining them in a critical fashion.

As a PhD candidate, you are invited to develop a critical reconstruction and evaluation of these conceptual assumptions. In your research, you may focus on, for example:

• The conceptions of human life and humans living together on and in relation to a particular territory as they underlie and are disseminated by the contemporary legal-political (international) migration regime.
• The ways in which state sovereignty, popular sovereignty and/or territorial sovereignty are conceived in relation to each other and to human rights.
• The ways in which current conceptual distinctions, such as that between ’native’ citizens and migrants, voluntary and involuntary migration, regular and irregular migration, etc., are established and have an effect.
• The role of the idea of the nation-state and national identity in the regulation of migration in liberal democracies.

You will be encouraged not to limit your research to contemporary legal philosophy, but to also include the work of thinkers who reflected on this subject in other legal-political constellations than ours today. This may include thinkers from the history of Western legal philosophy, from Greek and Roman antiquity to the present, such as Hannah Arendt, as well as non-Western and/or decolonial perspectives.

3. Profile

• You have completed (or are close to completing) a Master’s degree in Law and/or Philosophy.
• You have a keen interest in legal and political-philosophical issues.
• You have good writing skills in English.
• You are motivated to develop yourself in the fields of philosophy and law over a period of four years.  

4. We are

In its teaching and research, the Department of Philosophy of Law is concerned with the philosophical foundations of law and the ensuing broader legal-philosophical and political-philosophical questions.

The department participates in the Research Centre for State and Law (SteR) of the Faculty of Law. The centre aims to provide a stimulating environment for high-quality, internationally innovative legal and meta-legal research and to publicise its research results through authoritative publications, lectures, conferences and symposiums. The Department of Philosophy of Law consists of seven staff members.

5. We offer

• We will give you a temporary employment contract (1.0 FTE) of 1,5 years, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, your contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4-year contract).
• You will receive a starting salary of €3,345 gross per month based on a 38-hour working week, which will increase to €3,858 in the fourth year (salary scale 10).
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus. 
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Support Service. The Dual Career Programme assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. Our Family Support Service helps you and your partner feel welcome and at home by providing customised assistance in navigating local facilities, schools, and amenities. Also take a look at our support for international staff page to discover all our services for international employees.
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. 

6. Practical information and applying

Address your letter to Dr. Wout Cornelissen. Questions about the position can be directed to wout.cornelissen@ru.nl. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application.

The first interviews will take place on Monday 7 October from 10.00 AM till 14.30 PM. You will preferably start your employment on 1 December.

We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure. It describes what you can expect during the application procedure and how we handle your personal data and internal and external candidates.