OAFP 9505 - The Policies and Politics of Migration

Immigration is one of the most contentious topics in current politics. Far-right parties are gaining strength across liberal democracies by mobilizing anti-immigration sentiment and increasingly also influence the policy positions of mainstream parties. At the same time, labour shortages have become acute across industrialised countries while birth rates are falling, making immigration a key tool to maintain the sustainability of national economies and social security systems – and immigration policies have generally not become more restrictive over time. To make sense of these seemingly contradictory developments, this seminar analyses the logics of migration policy-making together with the dynamics of politicisation and party competition around the issue. In doing so, students will gain fundamental insights into the key dilemmas that states face when designing immigration policies, and how these relate to processes of politicisation and contestation. This dual perspective will allow students to understand and analyse contemporary immigration policy-making and to bridge research on politics and policy-making.

Students should be familiar with the fundamentals of policy-making and comparative politics before taking this class.

The seminar will be highly interactive and depend on students’ active participation. It will consist of a mix of short inputs by the lecturer, student presentations, group discussions of the readings and of current and historical immigration policy reforms, as well as exercises and discussions to help students in developing their final paper.

• 1 presentation covering a mandatory reading and putting it in relation with a policy reform or political discussion in the field of migration (readings to be presented during the first session (30%)
• 1 outline of the final paper (max. 2 pages), to be presented in class 10%
• 1 final paper, examining the politics, actor constellation and policy-making process around one immigration policy reform of the student’s choice (50%). The final paper can be written in pairs – in that case, two policy measures in the same country or two measures affecting a similar aspects of immigration adopted in two different countries should be compared.
• Preparation of questions for class debates and feedback to other student’s outlines (10%)