Europe and the Global South: Migration, Development and Beyond
Full course description
This course will introduce students to academic debates around and critiques of Europe’s relations with the so-called “Global South”. Europe’s changing place in the global order has in recent years intensified demands that it reconsider its engagement with both its former colonial empire and lower-income regions more generally. These demands centre around several issues, of which European migration management and European international development cooperation are among the most prominent. The course is therefore divided into two parts. In Part 1, we focus on migration into Europe, incorporating both recipient and sender views. The main question in this half is “How does the European Union and its member states address the challenge of international migration and how does this affect relations with third countries?” In Part 2, we examine how and why Europe seeks to act as an agent of development cooperation beyond its borders, focusing on its historical legacy, policymaking challenges and evolving role in an increasingly crowded donor landscape.
Course objectives
- Understand core policy-making dilemmas related to migration in Europe, how they affect relations between Europe and the rest of the world, and form a judgment on scholarly arguments, including their implicit assumptions, in debates on migration;
- Understand the relations between Europe and developing countries, including development cooperation undertaken by the EU and its member states, and form a judgment on scholarly arguments, including their implicit assumptions, in debates on the challenges to the European development agenda and the benefits of globalisation and development more broadly;
- Apply relevant conceptual and theoretical approaches from comparative politics, sociology, international relations, development studies and globalisation studies, and the appropriate research methods to answer advanced academic questions related to the first two objectives.
- In the skills component, study European development and migration policies through the policy evaluation design and discourse analysis approaches.
- Reach well-reasoned conclusions about Europe’s relations with the Global South through integrating substantive knowledge, theories and methods, and making use of sources and data to build evidence-based arguments, while reflecting on the societal and ethical implications of those conclusions;
- Autonomously generate new ideas and research questions on Europe’s relations with the Global South, make substantive choices when analysing these questions, while setting priorities and a workplan within the timeframe of the course.
- Participate in scholarly and policy debates on Europe’s relations with the Global South, within the international PBL classroom, as well as function in a group setting and work in an international professional environment.
Recommended reading
Castles, S., de Haas, H., & Miller, M.J. (2014). The Age of Migration; International Population Movements in the Modern World (5th ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cardwell, P. J. (2018). Tackling Europe's Migration ‘Crisis’ through Law and ‘New Governance’. Global Policy, 9, 67-75.
Doidge, M. & Holland, M. (2015). A Chronology of European Union Development Policy: Theory and Change. Korea Review of International Studies, 5, 59-80.
Onar, N. F., & Nicolaïdis, K. (2013). The Decentring Agenda: Europe as a post-colonial power. Cooperation and Conflict, 48(2), 283-303.