A Measure of Voluntariness in Migration

The notion of voluntariness has important implications for normative discussions on migration. If the voluntariness of migrants has significant normative implications, the degree of voluntariness in migration ought also to affect, even if not entirely determining, the entitlements of migrants, and the obligations host countries have towards them. Some argue that migration is non-voluntary if and only if it is motivated by the agent’s belief that she lacks any objectively acceptable alternative to migration. The proponents of this motivational account of voluntariness in migration argue that voluntariness is binary. But perceiving voluntariness as binary is unsatisfactory as it prevents us from seeing relevant differences between migrants in terms of their degrees of voluntariness. I adopt the motivational account of voluntariness and argue that it is compatible with the idea that voluntariness in migration is a matter of degree because: (a) evaluating a person’s lack of acceptable alternatives requires a probabilistic assessment of available options, and (b) migration is a process spanning a long period, so discussing voluntariness in migration requires us to examine voluntariness over an extended timespan. I develop a metric to quantify migrants’ degrees of voluntariness and illustrate its application, particularly in legal deliberations concerning migrants’ status.