Skip to main content

Migration

Europe has an impact beyond its borders, not only through its ‘normative power’ and formative conditionality but also through its policies and economic weight.

Migration is changing European societies and it has been a highly politicised issue both in European countries and EU Member States as well as at the EU level. At the same time, the European Union’s (EU) and Europe’s relations with third countries are shaped through migration and European countries cooperate with third countries in the area of migration control.

Intra-EU migration has been the central issue in the Brexit negotiations. However, the debate about free movement in the EU has at times obfuscated certain key issues such as: why immigrants are coming to the UK; what impact EU migrants are having on the UK; and what can be done to effectively regulate such inflows. It is, however, not just the Eurosceptics and the British government but also ‘in campaigners’ and other EU member states who risk perpetuating a number of widely-held misconceptions about free movement and immigration for political reasons.

Scholars at the EI approach this topic from different disciplinary angles, including Anthropology, Sociology, Public Policy and International Relations. Current research of the Department looks at questions as to why migration policies are restrictive or liberal, why international attempts of sharing the burden and responsibility of refugee protection have been elusive, how migration transforms the cultural, religious, and memory landscape of the host and guest communities, and how older and newer forms of racism as well sexism play out in Europe as a continent of migration.

Key research topics

  • Comparative immigration policies
  • Refugee burden- and responsibility-sharing
  • EU policy-making in the Common European Asylum System
  • Migration and labour markets
  • Muslims in Europe
  • Religious diversity and conflict
  • Racism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia
  • Multiple memory cultures
  • Academic exiles and refugees
  • (Re-)Imagining young Muslim women
  • Migrants in France
  • Migration and nationalism
  • Jihadism and Islamist Terrorism
  • Critical Terorrism Studies
  • Cultural narratives and security
  • Urban Policy in French cities

Academic staff working in this area