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2021/2022

International Migrations 

Code: 104482 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2503778 International Relations OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Eva Ostergaard-Nielsen
Email:
Eva.Ostergaard@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Eva Ostergaard-Nielsen

Prerequisites

A good level of English enough to follow theoretical classes, read the required texts, participate in seminars and submit work.

Objectives and Contextualisation

This course is designed to:

· Introduce students to some of the main contemporary international and internal migration scenarios in comparative perspective;

· Differentiate between the various categories, legal frameworks and perspectives involved in differentiating between forced and voluntary migration (a solid understanding of basic immigration patterns and legal structures);

· Learn about migration theories and its links with political sciences and IR;

· Understand the policy-making of migration and asylum policies (multilevel and multistakeholder approach);

· Learn about key debates in different geographic contexts (core concepts, relationships, and issues are involved in the immigration policy making);

· Explore key themes and debates in migration and refugee studies;

· Analysis the links between development and international migration;

· Foster critical thinking and academic research skills: critically evaluation of the pros and cons of liberal and restrictive approaches towards migration (criticize and evaluate political outcomes related to immigration policy).

Competences

  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in research processes.
  • Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
  • Learn and analyse the impacts of the globalisation process on domestic political systems and on the behaviour of the political actors and the public.
  • Make changes to methods and processes in the area of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to society's needs and demands.
  • Produce and prepare the presentation of intervention reports and/or proposals.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
  2. Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
  3. Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in research processes.
  4. Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
  5. Consider how gender stereotypes and roles impinge on the exercise of the profession.
  6. Critically analyse the principles, values and procedures that govern the exercise of the profession.
  7. Critically evaluate the impacts of globalisation in different areas: security, environment, human rights, migrations and peace.
  8. Explain the explicit or implicit code of practice of one's own area of knowledge.
  9. Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
  10. Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
  11. Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within the area of your own knowledge.
  12. Produce and prepare the presentation of intervention reports and/or proposals.
  13. Propose new experience-based methods or alternative solutions.
  14. Propose new ways to measure success or failure when implementing ground-breaking proposals or ideas.
  15. Propose projects and actions in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights, diversity and democratic values.
  16. Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
  17. Propose viable projects and actions that promote social, economic and environmental benefits.
  18. Propose ways to evaluate projects and actions for improving sustainability.
  19. Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  20. Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  21. Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  22. Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  23. Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.
  24. Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.
  25. Weigh up the risks and opportunities of one's own ideas for improvement and proposals made by others.

Content

Part 1. Introduction and key concepts and definitions

· Migration, refuge, asylum: concepts and definitions

· Migration theories. IR and international migrations

· Flows and general data (regional approach)

 

Part 2. The Making of Immigration Policies

· Theories and models

· Policy-processes and policy gaps

· Multilevel governance: from local to international playgrounds International framework

· Stakeholders in place

· The EU migration and asylum policies

 

Part 3. Forced migration: IDPs, refugees and asylum seekers

· International law and instruments

· Policies and actions

· Challenges and new figures (gender violence, environmental displacement…)

 

Part 4. Integration and inclusion policies and instruments

· Integration theories and discussions

· Public policies and actions

· Xenophobic discourses and migration as an instrumental topic

 

Part 5. Migration as a political issue

· Migration-Security Nexus: The emergence of immigration control: Securitization and externalization. Migration industry. Weaponization.

· Migration-Development Nexus: Remittances. Brain Drain vs. Brain Gain. South-South dynamics

· Migration and colonialism

· Feminization of migration

 

Part 6. Challenges and discussions

· Current topics

· World (regional) scenarios

Methodology

International Migration is a course of 6 ECTS, these credits will be divided between lectures with debate, seminars with preseentations by students, tutorials and independent work by the students individually or in groups. 

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures with debate 30 1.2 6, 1, 8, 11, 25, 18, 13, 14, 15, 17, 22, 21, 7, 24
Seminars and oral presentations of students 24 0.96 2, 4, 10, 16, 5
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials 16 0.64 7
Type: Autonomous      
Study of the thematics of the course as well as complementary readings 80 3.2 3, 23, 12, 9, 19

Assessment

All assignments must be handed in on the dates established by the professors at the beginning of the course.

- In order to pass the course, students must have been evaluated for both participation, short response papers and the final essay (the course cannot be passed by only presenting the final work).
- In the recovery exam only the final evaluation/case-study can be re-evaluated (50%) for those who have complied with the first exam deadlines or have a valid excuse for absence/non-compliance with this deadline according to faculty regulations.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Final evaluation/case study report and presentation 50% 0 0 6, 2, 3, 23, 4, 12, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 22, 20, 19, 5, 7, 24
Participation 10% 0 0 22, 5, 7
Short papers 40% 0 0 1, 12, 11, 25, 18, 13, 14, 17, 21, 19, 7

Bibliography

 

Arango, J. (2017). Theories of international migration. In International migration in the new millennium (pp. 25-45). Routledge.

 

Betts, A. (2008). Global migration governance (No. 2008/43). GEG Working Paper.

 

Boswell, Catarina. (2007). Theorizing migration policy: Is there a third way?. International migration review, 41(1), 75-100.

 

Carens, J. H. (1987). Aliens and citizens: the case for open borders. The review of politics, 251-273.

 

Castles, S. (2004). Why migration policies fail. Ethnic and racial studies, 27(2), 205-227.

 

Cornelius, W. A., & Tsuda, T. (2004). Controlling immigration: The limits of government intervention. In Cornelius, W. et alt (Ed.) Controlling immigration: A global perspective, 2, 3-48. Stanford University Press, Stanford.

 

De Haas, H., Czaika, M., Flahaux, M. L., Mahendra, E., Natter, K., Vezzoli, S., & Villares‐Varela, M. (2019). International migration: Trends, determinants, and policy effects. Population and Development Review, 45(4), 885-922.

 

Freeman, G. P. (2006). National models, policy types, and the politics of immigration in liberal democracies. West European Politics, 29(2), 227-247.

 

Gammeltoft-Hansen, T. (2014). International refugee law and refugee policy: the case of deterrence policies. Journal of Refugee Studies, 27(4), 574-595.

 

Guild, Elsebeth. (2006). The Europeanisation of Europe's asylum policy. International Journal of Refugee Law, 18(3-4), 630-651.

 

Guiraudon, Virginia., & Lahav, G. (2000). A reappraisal of the state sovereignty debate: The case of migration control. Comparative political studies, 33(2), 163-195.

 

Joppke, C. (1998). Why liberal states accept unwanted immigration. World politics, 266-293.

 

Lahav, Gallya., & Guiraudon, V. (2006). Actors and venues in immigration control: Closing the gap between political demands and policy outcomes. West European Politics, 29(2), 201-223.

 

Massey, D. S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., & Taylor, J. E. (1993). Theories of international migration: A review and appraisal. Population and development review, 431-466.

 

Meyers, E. (2000). Theories of international immigration policy—A comparative analysis. International migration review, 34(4), 1245-1282.

 

Scholten, P., & Penninx, R. (2016). The multilevel governance of migration and integration. In Integration processes and policies in Europe (pp. 91-108). Springer, Cham.

 

Thielemann, E. (2011). How Effective are Migration and Non-Migration Policies that Affect Forced Migration. Migration Studies Unit Working Papers, (2011/14).

 

Triandafyllidou, Anna. (1998). National identity and the 'other'. Ethnic and racial studies, 21(4), 593-612.
 

Betts, A. (2008). Global migration governance (No. 2008/43). GEG Working Paper.

 

Boswell, C. (2007). Theorizing migration policy: Is there a third way?. International migration review, 41(1), 75-100.

 

Carens, J. H. (1987). Aliens and citizens: the case for open borders. The review of politics, 251-273.

 

Castles, S. (2004). Why migration policies fail. Ethnic and racial studies, 27(2), 205-227.

 

Cornelius, W. A., & Tsuda, T. (2004). Controlling immigration: The limits of government intervention. In Cornelius, W. et alt (Ed.) Controlling immigration: A global perspective, 2, 3-48. Stanford University Press, Stanford.

 

De Haas, H., Czaika, M., Flahaux, M. L., Mahendra, E., Natter, K., Vezzoli, S., & Villares‐Varela, M. (2019). International migration: Trends, determinants, and policy effects. Population and Development Review, 45(4), 885-922.

 

Freeman, G. P. (2006). National models, policy types, and the politics of immigration in liberal democracies. West European Politics, 29(2), 227-247.

 

Gammeltoft-Hansen, T. (2014). International refugee law and refugee policy: the case of deterrence policies. Journal of Refugee Studies, 27(4), 574-595.

 

Guild, E. (2006). The Europeanisation of Europe's asylum policy. International Journal of Refugee Law, 18(3-4), 630-651.

 

Guiraudon, V., & Lahav, G. (2000). A reappraisal of the state sovereignty debate: The case of migration control. Comparative political studies, 33(2), 163-195.

 

Joppke, C. (1998). Why liberal states accept unwanted immigration. World politics, 266-293.

 

Lahav, G., & Guiraudon, V. (2006). Actors and venues in immigration control: Closing the gap between political demands and policy outcomes. West European Politics, 29(2), 201-223.

 

Massey, D. S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., & Taylor, J. E. (1993). Theories of international migration: A review and appraisal. Population and development review, 431-466.

 

Meyers, E. (2000). Theories of international immigration policy—A comparative analysis. International migration review, 34(4), 1245-1282.

 

Scholten, P., & Penninx, R. (2016). The multilevel governance of migration and integration. In Integration processes and policies in Europe (pp. 91-108). Springer, Cham.

 

Thielemann, E. (2011). How Effective are Migration and Non-Migration Policies that Affect Forced Migration. Migration Studies Unit Working Papers, (2011/14).

 

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National identity and the 'other'. Ethnic and racial studies, 21(4), 593-612.
 

 

 

Software

The specific programme will be posted in the campus virtual before the classes begin