Boundaries, Membership & Belonging
Is it possible to have a world without “us” and “them”?
This program explores how the boundaries between "us" and "them" are drawn and contested across societies, and why these boundaries are central to today's challenges of democracy, migration, solidarity, prejudice and violence. Bringing together philosophers, legal scholars and social scientists, the program considers how progress towards more inclusive societies requires compelling visions of membership. The program combines evidence-driven social science that examines how the world works and timely normative thinking of what societies ought to do. A distinctive feature of the program is its commitment to bringing perspectives from the global South and Indigenous peoples into conversation with mainstream Western social science.
IMPACT CLUSTERS
The Boundaries, Membership & Belonging program is part of the following CIFAR Impact Cluster: Building Thriving Societies. CIFAR’s research programs are organized into 5 distinct Impact Clusters that address significant global issues and are committed to fostering an environment in which breakthroughs emerge.
RESEARCH AND SOCIETAL IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS
Detecting - and Stopping - the Cycle of Hate
Intergroup hate is spreading worldwide as hate speech becomes normalized, acts of hate are more frequent and visible, and political discourse increasingly frames opponents as enemies rather than as partners in compromise. Drawing on historical, economic, political, sociological, legal and psychological research, Fellow Victoria Esses (Western University), Advisor Hazel Markus (Stanford University), Fellow Stephen Reicher (University of St. Andrew), Fellow Prerna Singh (Brown University), Fellow Allison Harell (Université du Québec à Montréal), Fellow Aaron Mills (McGill University), Advisor Vijayendra Rao (World Bank), and Azrieli Global Scholar Matt Lowe (University of British Columbia) have developed a model of intergroup hate that brings together the constellation of factors that form a self-reinforcing cycle of hate. The Ten Reason Cycle of Hate moves beyond isolated drivers of hate to a framework that captures how historical narratives, contemporary conditions, political mobilization, and moral justification mutually reinforce one another. The cycle explains why, once initiated, intergroup hate escalates and is legitimized, and provides exciting new directions for coordinated interventions that can address multiple components of the cycle, as well as the potential for inoculation and early-warning systems that detect and counter intergroup hate before it is mobilized. The Cycle of Hate can be applied to a variety of contexts, with applications to date including immigrant integration, support for DEI policies and programs, and international development.
Immigrant Integration and the World Development Report
Co-Director Irene Bloemraad (University of British Columbia), Fellow Victoria Esses (Western University), Co-Director Will Kymlicka (Queen’s University) and CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar Yang-Yang Zhou (Dartmouth University) provided advice on a chapter of the 2023 World Development Report, the major annual policy-setting publication by The World Bank, that examined how migrants and refugees can advance world development goals. Intrigued by the BMB group’s alternative framing of immigrant integration, the World Bank invited them to draft a complementary background paper to elaborate on their interdisciplinary approach. That approach questions the idea of “cultural distance,” outlines a range of integration models, and argues that successful migrant integration involves inter-personal, policy, and societal change in attitudes, actions and notions of membership.
Founded
2019, 2026
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Political science
Law
Psychology
Sociology
Economics
History
Philosophy
CIFAR Contact
Fellows & Advisors
Program Directors
Irene Bloemraad
Program Co-Director
Will Kymlicka
Program Co-Director
Fellows
Yasmeen Abu-Laban
Fellow
Chris Andersen
Fellow
Bart Bonikowski
Fellow
Victoria Esses
Fellow
Allison Harell
Fellow
Evan Lieberman
Fellow
Audrey Macklin
Fellow
Aaron Mills
Fellow
Nathan Nunn
Fellow
Stephen David Reicher
Fellow
Ayelet Shachar
Associate Fellow
Prerna Singh
Fellow
Successful Societies
Andreas Wimmer
Fellow
Yang-Yang Zhou
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023
Advisors
Keith Banting
Advisor
Catherine Dauvergne
Advisor
Hazel Markus
Advisor
Successful Societies
Vijayendra Rao
Advisory Committee Chair
Advisor
Successful Societies
Leonard Wantchekon
Advisor
CIFAR Global Scholars
Feyaad Allie
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2025-2027
Ellora Derenoncourt
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023
Debra Karhson
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2025-2027
Matt Lowe
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2023-2025
Michael Muthukrishna
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023
Roni Porat
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2025-2027
Dalitso Ruwe
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2023-2025
Hajar Yazdiha
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2023-2025
Yang-Yang Zhou
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023
Related News
Boundaries, Membership & Belonging
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Announcement
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Boundaries, Membership & Belonging
CIFAR Presents: The Walrus Talks Boundaries
Watch CIFAR fellows explain how divisions shape our lives, what lies between borders, and what membership means now.
October 09, 2019
Advances
Hope for an inclusive future
A Q&A with Boundaries, Membership & Belonging co-director Will Kymlicka
September 03, 2019