This book focuses on Jurgen Habermas' theorising on law, rights and democracy in light of the modern critique of law. The latter tradition, which goes back to Hegel and Marx, has addressed the limitations of rights as vocabulary of emancipation and law as language of autonomy. Since Habermas claims that his reconstruction of private and public autonomy has an emancipatory aim, the author has chosen to discuss it in the context of the modern critique of law. More specifically, the study addresses the need to consider the dialectic of law, in which law is both a condition for emancipation and domination, when discussing what law and rights permit. It will appeal to students and scholars across the fields of political theory, law and legal criticism, as well as sociology and sociology of law.

Stefanie Mayer and Mikael Spang take a close look at debates regarding (labor) immigration in Austria and Sweden by comparing discussions during the 1960s and 1970s with contemporary political discourse. The editors combine their research on institutional developments with elements of critical discourse analysis in a comparative perspective. The volume also includes comments from experts on migration issues from former emigration and/or EU-accession countries, such as Finland, Turkey, former Yugoslavia, and the Cech Republic, thereby, casting light on how migration issues have been discussed in different contexts.

Stefanie Mayer is currently working on her PhD in political science at the sociology department of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna.

Mikael Spang is an associate professor of political science in the department of global political studies at Malmo University.