XCPD-713 - Global Governance of Refugees and Immigrants
Course Description
While international agreements facilitate the relatively free movement of goods, services, and capital across borders, multilateral agreements on the movement of people are much less developed. This course will begin with an examination of global governance concepts and international regimes and the relationship between global governance of migration and other international issues, such as sovereignty, security, and north-south power differentials. The course will then look at the principal normative frameworks, actors and ‘rules of the game’ for governance of both refugee response and migration. The role of governments of both migrant-sending and migrant-receiving states will be analyzed as well as key international actors such as the International Organization for Migration, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, civil society actors, regional organizations and processes and other international bodies, such as the Global Forum on Migration and Development. The emergence of mini-multilateral initiatives, particularly Migrants in Countries in Crisis and the Platform for Disaster Displacement, will be assessed as possible alternatives to comprehensive, binding legal regimes. Particular attention will be devoted to the implementation of the unanimous decision in 2016 by the UN General Assembly to negotiate two new global compacts: a Global Compact on Refugees and a Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The course will be taught by an interdisciplinary team of social science scholars.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, success students will be able to:
- Outline concepts of global governance and international regimes;
- Present trends in global migration, including forced and voluntary migration;
- Examine the role of sovereignty, security concerns and north-south power differentials in shaping multilateral approaches to migration;
- Compare international regimes for migration and refugees and the reasons for these differences, including mini-multilateral initiatives;
- Classify the principal actors in the international migration and refugee regimes, regional organizations and processes, and other international initiatives;
- Predict the impact around the establishment of a new Global Compact on Refugees and on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.