Dana Schmalz' book "Refugees, Democracy and the Law. Political Rights at the Margins of the State" was published in 2020. It is based on her Ph.D. thesis "World citizens at the border. Democratic theory, international law, and the figure of the refugee" that she wrote during her time at the institute, with Prof. Armin von Bogdandy as her supervisor.
The book provides an in-depth discussion of democratic theory questions in relation to refugee law. It introduces readers to the evolution of refugee law and its core issues today, as well as central lines in the debate about democracy and migration. Bringing together these fields, the book links theoretical considerations and legal analysis. Based on its specific understanding of the refugee concept, it offers a reconstruction of refugee law as constantly confronted with the question of how to secure rights to those who have no voice in the democratic process. In this reconstruction, the book highlights, on the one hand, the need to look beyond the legal regulations for understanding the challenges and gaps in refugee protection. It is also the structural lack of political voice, the book argues, which shapes the refugee’s situation. On the other hand, the book opposes a view of law as mere expression of power and points out the dynamics within the law which reflect endeavors towards mitigating exclusion.