Dr Natascha Zaun

This course is available on the MSc in Global Europe: Culture and Conflict, MSc in Global Europe: Culture and Conflict (LSE & Sciences Po) and MSc in International Migration and Public Policy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Week 1: Why have an external migration policy? The case of Europe

Week 2: Externalising Europe‘s border I: FRONTEX and shared border protection

Week 3: EU policies on smuggling and trafficking

Week 4: Externalising Europe‘s border II: Visa policies as instruments of ‘remote control‘

Week 5: The EU‘s relation with IO‘s such as UNHCR and IOM

Week 6: Reading Week

Week 7: Bilateral readmission agreements with third countries

Week 8: The migration-development nexus in EU external migration policies

Week 9: Mobility Partnerships: An effective tool of external migration governance?

Week 10: Diffusion without cooperation: Norm emulation between regional institutions and courts

Week 11: Europe and global responsibility-sharing in refugee protection



This course provides an overview of Europe’s role in global migration governance. The course will address different aspects in this regard, including the externalisation of EU and European Member States’ migration policies, bilateral and multilateral agreements with third countries, cross-references between regional bodies of integration as well as regional/international courts and Europe’s cooperation with international organisations such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Students will be equipped with a variety of theories to analytically assess these areas of European activity, including theoretical frameworks such as venue-shopping, diffusion and securitisation.

10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the LT. 1 hour of lectures in the ST.

Students will receive written and oral feedback on their formative essays shortly after their submission so they can improve their writing and argumentative skills throughout the course and apply the feedback they have received for the first essay already to the second one. In addition, students will get immediate feedback on media presentations and classroom debates.

Formative coursework consists in regular (i.e. weekly) participation in the moodle debate; the submission of two essays of 1,500 words on a given topic, due in weeks 4 and 9; a short news presentation (5 minutes) on a recently published news article related to a topic from the course. One of the formative essays will be a mock take home exam, so students can prepare for their final take-home exam.

• Arcosta Arcazo, D. and Geddes, A. (2014): Transnational diffusion or different models? Regional approaches to migration governance in the European Union and MERCOSUR. European Journal of Migration and Law, 16: 1, pp. 19-44.
• Betts, A./Milner, J. (2006): The externalisation of EU asylum policy: the position of African states. Oxford: COMPAS Working Paper No. 36.
• Börzel, T. and Risse, T. (2011): From Europeanisation to Diffusion. West European Politics, 35: 1, pp. 1-19.
• Czaika, M. and Hobolth, M. (2016): Do restrictive asylum and visa policies increase irregular migration into Europe? European Union Politics, 17: 3, pp. 345-365.
• Gammeloft-Hansen (2011): The externalisation of European migration control and the reach of international refugee law. The Hague: Brill.
• Greenhill, Kelly M. (2010): Weapons of mass migration: forced displacement, coercion and foreign policy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
• Lavenex, S. (2015): Multilevelling EU external governance: the role of international organizations in the diffusion of EU migration policies. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42: 4, pp. 554-570.
• Lavenex, S. and Uçarer, E. (2003): Migration and the externalities of European integration, Lanham et al.: Lexington Books.
• Mau et al. (2015): The Global Mobility Divide: How visa policies have evolved over time. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41: 8, pp. 1192-1213.
• Thouez, C. and Channac, F. (2006): Shaping international migration policy: The role of the regional consultative process. West European Politics, 29: 2, pp. 370-87.

Take home exam (100%) in the ST.