Admission requirements
This course will be taken as part of the minor European Approaches to Societal Challenges.
Description
International migration is both a major opportunity for European societies and a significant challenge for European governance. Free movement within the EU has led to large-scale migration from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe to countries in the West and the North of the continent. At the same time, Western and Northern Europeans increasingly choose to retire in Southern and Eastern Europe. Conflicts around the world have spurred substantial flows of asylum-seekers to Europe, with many European states becoming major hubs of transit and destination for refugees. Political, economic, and environmental crises further drive flows of legal and illegal migration to the continent. While migration accompanied human societies for millennia, contemporary migration is embedded in a complex institutional regimes that spans global, regional (European), national, and local institutions. International convention set some of the basic rules for refugee protection, for example; EU directives and regulation further specify norms for the reception, treatment and distribution of asylum-seekers applying for protection in one of the member states. Yet individual states retain considerable autonomy in migration policymaking. Moreover, it is often local governments that have to implement the rules and deal with the integration of migrants in the host societies. Migration is a challenge to multilevel governance, but it is also a political issue that has fuelled polarization and possibly the creation of new political cleavages in European societies and party systems.
The course reviews the historical and institutional context of international migration. It examines different forms of migration to the EU and within the EU: free movement, refugee migration, etc. from legal, governance and economic perspectives. Finally, it analyses the policy approaches of different European states to various forms of migration, and the (limits to the) effectiveness.
Course objectives
At the end of the course, students should:
1. have broad knowledge of the legal, institutional, economic and political aspects of the governance of migration in Europe at levels from the local to the European and beyond;
2. be familiar with the main analytic tools – concepts, theories and models – needed to discuss and analyse the governance of migration;
3. be able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the migration multilevel governance architecture to provide effective and representative policy responses to this societal challenge;
Schedule
The timetables are available through MyTimetable (see the button in the upper right corner).
Teaching method
Weekly 2-hour lectures/seminars a week and self-study. Attendence is very strongly encouraged.
Assessment method
Essay, paper plus oral presentation. (100%)
A research paper analysing the policy approach of one jurisdiction (municipality, country, international organization, etc.) to one particular form of migration in a particular time period. In addition, an oral conversation in person with the student will be held where the student needs to demonstrate being able to discuss and justify their analysis. (100%)
Resit, review & feedback
One resit opportuinity is offered. The resit consists of revising the research paper and/or having a second oral discussion of the work.
Reading list
The reading for the course will be based on a selection of academic articles and policy reports. The detailed list will be available two weeks before the start of the course.
Registration
See general information about the minor.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer(s) (listed in the right information bar). For questions about enrolment, contact the Student Services Centre: ssc@leiden.edu.