Geopolitics of Migrations
A.Y. 2024/2025
Learning objectives
The course aims to familiarize students with the geopolitical dimension of international migrations. It is designed to: a) provide students with an understanding of the centrality of borders in modern international politics; b) introduce students to some of the key factors that challenge such centrality in contemporary geopolitics; c) illustrate in which ways sea borders affect the management by the navies of the flows of refugee applicants in the central Mediterranean; d) describe the conflicts aroused between European nations by the Dublin Protocol on the EU's management of refugees. Throughout the course, engagement with case-studies will help students to apply the conceptual and theoretical tools presented in the course to empirical cases.
Expected learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to (1) identify key trends in contemporary geopolitics; (2) identify the relationship between such trends and international migrations; (3) know the causes of the main refugee flows affecting the EU; (4) be aware of why refugee management is today one of the main causes of geopolitical conflicts affecting Europe; (5) apply the conceptual and theoretical tools presented in the course to the analysis of specific cases.
Lesson period: First semester
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
The first part of the course will focus on the state-centric and Western-centric nature of modern international politics and identify some factors that are challenging this model, including the erosion of sovereignty and the rise of non-Western actors. The second part of the course will then focus on the implications of sea borders for the management of the flows of refugee applicants in the central Mediterranean and describe the conflicts aroused between European nations by the Dublin Protocol on the EU's management of refugees.
Prerequisites for admission
Preliminary knowledge of Contemporary History.
Teaching methods
Lessons and discussions around maps, images, graphs and photographs that will be presented throughout the course and made available via Ariel.
Teaching Resources
Materials available on the Ariel website (slides of the lessons and maps), plus the following reading list:
First module. One of the following books:
- Stuenkel O., Post-Western World. How Emerging Powers Are Remaking Global Order (Cambridge: Polity, 2016);
- Krasner S.D., Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999).
Second module:
- UNHCR, Global Trends. Forced Displacement in 2021 (UNHCR, 2022), pp. 1-21 and 28-46, available at https://www.unhcr.org/media/40152.
- Roman E., Governing Protracted Displacement in Italy: An Analysis of Legal and Policy Structures Shaping Protracted Displacement Situations, TRAFIG Report (Bonn: Bonn International Center for Conversion - BICC, 2020), available at https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/68912/ssoar-2020-roman-Governing_protracted_displacement_in_Italy.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&lnkname=ssoar-2020-roman-Governing_protracted_displacement_in_Italy.pdf
- Rinauro S., Italian Illegal Emigration after the Second World War and Illegal Immigration in Italy Today: Similarities and Differences, in F. Fauri (ed.) The History of Migration in Europe. Prospectives from Economics, Politics and Sociology (London-New York: Routledge, 2015), pp. 173- 193.
First module. One of the following books:
- Stuenkel O., Post-Western World. How Emerging Powers Are Remaking Global Order (Cambridge: Polity, 2016);
- Krasner S.D., Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999).
Second module:
- UNHCR, Global Trends. Forced Displacement in 2021 (UNHCR, 2022), pp. 1-21 and 28-46, available at https://www.unhcr.org/media/40152.
- Roman E., Governing Protracted Displacement in Italy: An Analysis of Legal and Policy Structures Shaping Protracted Displacement Situations, TRAFIG Report (Bonn: Bonn International Center for Conversion - BICC, 2020), available at https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/68912/ssoar-2020-roman-Governing_protracted_displacement_in_Italy.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&lnkname=ssoar-2020-roman-Governing_protracted_displacement_in_Italy.pdf
- Rinauro S., Italian Illegal Emigration after the Second World War and Illegal Immigration in Italy Today: Similarities and Differences, in F. Fauri (ed.) The History of Migration in Europe. Prospectives from Economics, Politics and Sociology (London-New York: Routledge, 2015), pp. 173- 193.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Written exam based on open questions. For both attending and non-attending students, the written exam will consist of three questions - one broader question on the first part (maximum 2 pages) and two more specific questions on the second part (maximum 1 page for each) - to be answered in 90 minutes.
SPS/04 - POLITICAL SCIENCE - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Professors:
Dossi Simone, Rinauro Sandro
Professor(s)
Reception:
On Tuesdays from 2.30 to 5.30 pm (in person or online via Teams). Students are kindly requested to make an appointment in advance via email.
Dipartimento di Studi internazionali, giuridici e storico-politici, via Conservatorio 7, 1st floor, room 8