Department of Political Science Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy University at Albany RPOS 399 Politics of International Migration Fall 2016 Syllabus Yeufen Hsieh (yhsieh4@albany.edu) Class: TTH 5:45-7:05pm (HU124) Office Hours: TH 3:30-5:30pm and by appointment (Uptown Campus, HU016) Course Description Immigration shook recent European politics at the local, national and EU levels. As a champion of anti-immigration messages, the National Front swept to victory in 12 French cities in March 2014. Two months later, the National Front secured another electoral victory in the European Parliament Election. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel s handling of the refugee issue contributed to her Christian Democrat Party s serious setback in the March 2016 regional elections. In Britain, many voters seemed to have expressed their unease about immigration through casting ballots in the June 2016 Brexit referendum. The increasing polarization on immigration shocked many, because not long ago, politicians in many liberal democracies were able to weave immigration into the narratives of national self-understanding like a consensus. Former President Woodrow Wilson once said, We came to America, either ourselves or in the persons of our ancestors, to better the ideals of men, to make them see finer things than they had seen before, to get rid of the things that divide and to make sure of the things that unite. On the contrary, many politicians in the post-wwii Federal Republic of Germany had for a long time insisted, Germany is not a country of immigration (Wir sind kein Einwanderungsland). How does such national self-understanding influence today s immigration politics? To what extent do various discourses in the debates reflect immigration history and the trajectories of immigration policies? Amidst the climate of immigration debates during recent primary and general elections, how many Americans still pride themselves of being a country of immigration that harbors the tired and the poor? Inspired by these questions, this course discusses immigration politics from the perspective of citizenship ideas and national self-understanding. We focus on past and present immigration politics in selected liberal democracies, including France, Germany, Israel and the US. We pay special attention to labor migration, family reunification and the refugee issue. Prerequisite: R POS102 strongly recommended. Learning Objectives By the end of this course, you will be able to: Summarize key concepts and issues about immigration politics. Distinguish different challenges and policy responses regarding immigration in major migration destinations, especially those that are covered in the course. Critically evaluate the quality of arguments regarding key immigration issues. 1
Required Readings Stephen Castles et al. The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World 5 th ed. (Guilford Press, 2013). All the other readings will be available on Blackboard. Grades 1. Class Participation 10% 2. Individual Presentation 10% 3. Pop Quizzes 25% 4. Midterm 25% 5. Final Project Policy Brief 30% Assignment Policy All assignments should be submitted according to the required format. Emailed or faxed assignments will not be accepted, with the exception of the completed Final Project. Late submissions will not be accepted, except for religious observance (which needs to be cleared with me in the first two weeks of the semester) or documented medical or family emergency (with a doctor note or one from the dean). Online Learning Sources Colombo Process: http://www.colomboprocess.org/ EU Immigration Portal: http://ec.europa.eu/immigration/ IMPALA: http://www.impaladatabase.org IOM World Migration Interactive Map: https://www.iom.int/world-migration MIPEX 2015: http://www.mipex.eu Migration Policy Institute: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/ OECD: http://www.oecd.org/els/mig/oecdmigrationdatabases.htm UN DESA: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/index.shtml USICE: https://www.ice.gov Special Needs Students with special needs due to physical, learning, or other disabilities and wish to be accommodated accordingly must submit the supporting documentation from the Disability Resource Center (http://www.albany.edu/disability/ Campus Center 137) to me (in person) during the first two weeks of the semester. Please also remind me before each relevant event (e.g. midterm and assignment due dates). Class Etiquette This class welcomes all perspectives and political views ONLY when they are presented in a civic fashion with grounded evidence. Please be respectful of every participant in this class, including yourself, by behaving and speaking in a decent and responsible way. You are expected to utilize electronic devices in a responsible manner, which means you should only use them in ways that facilitate your learning and are able to limit unnecessary distractions for yourself and others. I strongly encourage you to read the study that finds how using electronic devices negatively influences learning: http://www.yorku.ca/ncepeda/laptopfaq.html. You can also find a summary of this study at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/laptop-use-lowersstudent-grades-experiment-shows-1.1401860. 2
Weekly Readings August 30: Syllabus and Course Overview September 1: Basic Concepts Uma A. Segal, Nazneen S. Mayadas, and Doreen Elliott, The Immigration Process, in: Immigration Worldwide: Policies, Practices, and Trends, (Oxford University Press 2010), ch.1 (pp.3-16). John Torpey, Coming and Going: On the State Monopolization of the Legitimate Means of Movement, Sociological Theory 16:3 (1998), 239-259. September 6: Historical Overview of Immigration Control Ian Goldin, Geoffrey Cameron and Meera Balarajan. Managed Migration in the Twentieth Century (1914-1973), in: Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future, (Princeton University Press 2011), ch.3 (pp.69-93). September 8: The Liberal Paradox Christian Joppke, Why Liberal States Accept Unwanted Immigration, World Politics 50:2 (January 1998), 266-293. James F. Hollifield, Valerie F. Hunt and Daniel J. Tichenor, Immigrants, Markets: The United States as an Emerging Migration State, 61 (2008) SMU Law Review 67. (*read pp.7-15) September 13: Post-WWII Labor Migration to Europe Castles et al., pp.93-99, ch.5. September 15: French and German Experiences Rogers Brubaker, Immigration, Citizenship, and the Nation-State in France and Germany: A Comparative Historical Analysis, International Sociology 5:4 (1990), 379-407. September 20: Post-WWII Immigration to North America Castles et al., pp.89-93, ch.6. September 22: The American Experience Daniel Tichenor, Immigrant Voters in a Partisan Polity, in: Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America (Princeton University Press 2002), ch.3 (pp.46-86). September 27: Immigration and Citizenship Ideas I Kunal M. Parker, Introduction, in: Making Foreigners: Immigration and Citizenship Law in America, 1600-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2015) ch.1 (pp.1-21). September 29: Immigration and Citizenship Ideas II Castles et al., ch.3, pp.230-233. Yasemin N. Soysal, Toward a Postnational Model of Membership, in: Limits of Citizenship: Migrants and Postnational Membership in Europe, (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago 1992), ch.8 (pp.136-162). 3
October 4: Family Reunification Castles et al., pp.156-158. Read USCIS on Family of U.S. Citizens: https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-uscitizens. Caren Freeman, Chosŏnjok Maidens and Farmer Bachelors, in: Making and Faking Kinship, (Cornell University Press, 2015), ch.1 (pp.31-68). October 6: Labor Migration Castles et al., ch.11. ILO (International Labour Organization), International Labour Migration: A Rights-Based Approach, Geneva: International Labour Office (2010). (*read pp.71-82) October 11 No Class (Class Suspended for Yom Kippur) October 13: Migration and Human Security Castles et al., ch.9. IOM, Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Assessing the Evidence (Geneva, Switzerland 2009), pp.361-380. October 18: Midterm Review October 20: In-Class Midterm October 25: Refugees UNHCR Castles et al., pp.163-165, 221-230. UNHCR Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2016, pp. 9-17. RSD Self Help Kit Browse Refugee Project Interactive Map http://www.therefugeeproject.org/#/1986 Browse UNHCR Who We Help http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c11c.html and UNHCR Population of Concern http://www.unhcr.org/en- us/publications/fundraising/564da0e3b/unhcr-global-appeal-2016-2017- populations-concern-unhcr.html October 27: Asylum Seekers Non-Refoulement Joseph H. Carens, Refugees, in: The Ethics of Immigration (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press 2003), ch.10 (pp.192-224). November 1: Refugees and Asylum US Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova, Refugees and Asylees in the United States, Migration Policy Institute (2015), http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugeesand-asylees-united-states TBA November 3: Refugees and Asylum Germany AIDA Report on Germany, 2015, pp.9-23. TBA November 8: Refugees and Asylum EU Castles et al., pp. 181-193. 4
Elspeth Guild et al, The 2015 Refugee Crisis in the European Union, CEPS Policy Brief (Brussels, 2015). November 10: Refugees and Asylum Turkey Pinar Elman, From Blame Game to Cooperation: EU-Turkey Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis, PISM Policy Paper no.34(136), (Warsaw, October 2015). Elizabeth Collett, The Paradox of the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal, MPI Commentary (March 2016). November 15: Refugees and Asylum Israel Watch Documentary Hotline (2015) November 17: The Migration Industry Castles et al., pp. 235-238. Sarah Maslin Nir, The Price of Nice Nails, The New York Times (May 7, 2015). November 22: Rethinking Refugees and Illegal Immigration Christina Boswell, The Liberal Dilemma in the Ethics of Refugee Policy, in: Anthony M. Messina and Gallya Lahav (ed.), The Migration Reader: Exploring Politics and Policies, (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2006), ch.14.4 (pp.664-682) November 24 No Class (Class Suspended for Thanksgiving Break) November 29: Immigration Reform The German Experience Castles et al., p.107 & ch.12 (pay special attention to Germany). Kay Hailbronner, Country Report: Germany, EUDO Citizenship Observatory (October 2012). (*read sections 1&2, pp.1-10) December 1: Immigration Debates US Janice Fine and Daniel Tichenor, An Enduring Dilemma: Immigration and Organized Labor in Western Europe and the United States, in: Oxford Handbook of the Politics of International Migration (Oxford University Press 2012), ch.22 (pp.532-572). (*read pp.532-535, 537-538, 553-566) Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova, Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States, Migration Policy Institute, April 14, 2016. (read through Workforce Characteristics and skim the rest) http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrantsand-immigration-united-states December 6: Final Project Presentations December 8: Ethics of Immigration? Michael Walzer, Membership, in: Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality (New York: Basic Books Inc. 1983, pp.31-63). Joseph H. Carens, Introduction: Mapping the Ethics of Immigration, in: The Ethics of Immigration (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003), ch.1 (pp.1-16). December 13 No Class (Reading Day) Final Project Due on December 14 (Wednesday) at 10am (by email) 5