Autonomy and duties to distant strangers

One way of arguing for the position that states may prioritize their own citizens over foreigners draws attention to the ways in which states limit their citizens' autonomy. States routinely coerce their citizens by enforcing a large set of laws. This is incompatible with paying due respect for individual autonomy, this way of thinking proceeds, and therefore governments should compensate for the restrictions they impose on their citizens' autonomy by showing special concern for their own citizens. This line of argument for governments' prioritizing their own citizens over foreigners has faced criticism in the recent philosophical literature. Richard J. Arneson (2005) argues that justified laws do not impose the kinds of limitations on citizen autonomy that would deserve compensation. Kok-Chor Tan (1993) maintains that the kind of coercion deserving of compensation is not limited to the national context, and that even national compensation cannot ignore the moral claims of foreigners. This paper examines these criticisms by Arneson and Tan.