EU464      Half Unit
International Migration: EU Policies and Politics

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Requisites

Additional requisites:

A good knowledge of EU institutions and EU policy-making is required.

This course examines EU policies that aim to to manage ‘unwanted migration’ to Europe.  In particular, it deals with the European Union’s governance of migratory flows such as asylum seekers and irregular migrants whose arrival states seek to prevent or discourage.  As the willingness of sovereign states to advance global governance in the area of immigration policy remains low and unilateral national policy-responses are limited in their effectiveness, interest in regional governance initiatives has grown.  The European Union is the most advanced regional governance organisation that seeks to regulate, manage and control international migration flows. 

The course provides an in-depth treatment of the origins, evolution and major policy issues within asylum and immigration arena,  which has been one of the fastest growing EU policy fields since the 1990s. The course focuses on the following policy areas: (1) the common EU asylum and refugee system; (2) policies that allocate and share responsibilities for asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants.

Students taking the course will learn how to systematically examine the origins, evolution and determinants of EU policy instruments.  After completion of the course, students will have gained insights into the EU policy making process on asylum and immigration.  They will also be able to answer questions such as: Why, despite sovereignty concerns, have Member States dramatically intensified cooperation on asylum and immigration issues? What is the relationship between national asylum & immigration policies, international human rights instruments and EU law? Given the influence of the EU’s supranational institutions, do the Member States still effectively control policies on asylum and immigration? Has EU policy-making lead to a convergence of policies at the “lowest common denominator” or has EU governance lead to higher human rights standards in the Member States? 

For their summative assessment, students will have the opportunity to develop a policy case-study, allowing them to apply the analytical skills developed in this course to examine a specific EU asylum/immigration policy of their choice.

15 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Research project

Geddes A et al. (2020) Migration and Mobility in the European Union, Palgrave/Macmillan;
Zaun N. (2019) EU Asylum Policies: The Power of Strong Regulating States, Palgrave;
Milazzo, E. (2023) Refugee Protection and Solidarity, Oxford;
Thym, D (2023), European Migration Law, Oxford;
Chetail V. and P. De Bruycker (2016) (eds.), Reforming the Common European Asylum System: The New European Refugee Law, Brill;
Geddes A. (2008) Immigration and European integration: Towards Fortress Europe, Manchester;
Thielemann E R (ed.) (2003) "European Burden-Sharing and Forced Migration", special issue of the Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol.16, No.3.

Research project (100%, 5000 words)