DAFF 25A12 - Governing borders in the 21st Century

DAFF 25A12 · Fall semester 2026-2027

Language of tuition
English
Course type
Cours séminaire
Number of hours
24
Credits
5

Information

Description

This course offers an introduction to the study of migration, borders and security in the 21st Century. We will explore how the governance of migration and borders has been transformed to include a diverse range of actors away from the exclusive domain of the state. Increasingly, EU agencies, IGOs, NGOs, security professionals and religious organisations have become key players in governing mobilities. Key rationalities underpinning this governance will be explored, from managerial, to security, and humanitarian. Emerging practices for migration control often defy a territorial logic to borders, instead taking place in so-called transit and sending countries or in virtual spaces through surveillance and technology mechanisms. Thus, far from disappearing, as some scholars of globalization maintain, borders are emerging in new spaces both inside and outside the territorial state. This leads us to question the location of borders, their constitution, and their effects on liberties and fundamental rights. The course will provide students with the knowledge and concepts to think critically about how power works through borders and with what effects on states, populations and individuals in terms of their inclusion/exclusion, freedom, and mobility.

Prerequisites

None

Teaching format

The course will consist mainly of lectures, complemented by opportunities for debate and discussion. It will also include a student group presentation and press review.

Assessment

Each student will have to make an oral presentation to be presented in pairs and to present a press review in pairs.

One written exam during session 11 (two hours) in French or English

Readings

Main readings 5

  1. Agier, M., Managing the Undesirables: Refugee Camps and Humanitarian Government. English Editions. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011

    Borrow

  2. Andersson, Ruben. Illegality Inc. Clandestine Migration and the Business of Bordering in Europe, University of California Press, 2015

    Borrow

  3. Mayblin, L. (2017). Asylum after empire: Colonial legacies in the politics of asylum seeking. Rowman & Littlefield

    Read online

  4. Pallister-Wilkins, P. (2022). Humanitarian borders: Unequal mobility and saving lives. Verso Books.

    Borrow

  5. Vaughan William N., Parker, Noel., Critical Border Studies: Broadening and Deepening the 'lines in the Sand' Agenda, Taylor & Francis Group: New York, 192p, 2013.

    Borrow

Teaching units

Unit no.Unit type Teaching unitsTeachers Number of hoursCredits
15851Cours séminaire Governing borders in the 21st Century Shoshana FINE245

Teachers

  • Shoshana FINE

In the curricula

Contacts and resources

Contact
NICOULEAU Svetlana