GLOBAL MIGRATION AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

POLI443

Course Code: POLI443
Semester: -
Theory+Practice: 3 + 0
ECTS: 5

Course Type

Elective Course

Course Level

Bachelor's Degree

Year of Study

Semester

ECTS

Name of Lecturer(s)

Associate Professor Nazlı Şenses Özcan

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the students;

develop a perspective on the political, legal, cultural, and economic dimensions of international migration.
dicuss the role migration plays in politics of countries.
develop a perspective on the issue of migrants.

Mode of Delivery

Face to face

Prerequisites

Recommended Optional Programme Components

No recommended optional programme components.

Course Description

POLT443 is an undergraduate level elective course on politics of international migration. The course focuses specifically on the movement across borders in the 20th and 21st centuries. Migration is as old as human history; however, it is far from being a mundane activity in today?s nation-state order. Instead migration and mobility across national borders is commonly associated with a 'crisis' or a 'problem' which signifies an anomaly. The overall aim of this course is to make sense of the political debates and policies in relation to international migration. At the end of this course, you learn fundamental concepts, themes and theoretical frameworks of politics of international migration. Also, you can develop your capacity to analyse national politics of migration and to critically evaluate current debates in the public sphere.

Course Contents

WEEK	TOPICS
1^st Week	A General introduction to the course and the syllabus
2^nd Week	What is happening? A general discussion on the current forms of migration in the World and in Turkey.
3^rd Week	What is happening? A general discussion on the current forms of migration in the World and in Turkey.
4^th Week	A debate on why people move
5^th Week	Setting a historical context for 21st century migrations
6^th Week	State policies on migration
7^th Week	Midterm Exam
8^th Week	Turkey's policies on migration
9^th Week	Turkey's policies on migration
10^th Week	Securitizing migration
11^th Week	Gender on Move
12^th Week	Human Rights, Citizens and Migrants
13^th Week	Climate Crisis and Migration
14^th Week	Concluding remarks: Envisioning the Future of (Im)Mobility

Recommended or Required Reading

Pedro Sanchez, Im the Prime Minister of Spain. This Is Why the West Needs Migrants. The New York Times, Opinion Guest Essay (February 4, 2026)
Christopher Caldwell, Spain's Approach to Migration Is Overrated and Harmful The New York Times, Opinion Guest Essay (February 12, 2026)
K Haddock and D. Roy, ICE and Deportations: How Trump is Reshaping Immigration Enforcement Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/articles/ice-and-deportations-how-trump-reshaping-immigration-enforcement (January 30, 2026)
Massey D. S. et al. 1993 Theories of International Migration: A Review and Appraisal, Population and Development Review 19(3): 431-466.
De Genova, N. (2016). The crisis of the European border regime: Towards a Marxist theory of borders. International Socialism, 150(April), 31-54.
Castles, S. 2015 Migration, Precarious Work, and Rights: Historical and Current Perspectives (pp. 46-67) In: Schierup C-U et al. (eds.) Migration, Precarity and Global Governance. Oxford University Press.
Freeman, Gary P. 1995 Modes of Immigration Politics in Liberal Democratic States, The International Migration Review, 29(4): 881-902
Castles, S. 2017 Migration Policies are Problematic because They are About Migration, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(9): 1538-1543.
Ager, A. and Strang, A. 2008 Understanding Integration: A Conceptual Framework, Journal of Refugee Studies 21(2): 166 191.
Cleton, L and Meier P. 2023 Contesting policy categories using intersectionality: Reflections for studying migration governance Ethnic and Racial Studies, 46(14): 3014-3036.
Koca, B. T. (2015). Deconstructing Turkey's Open Door Policy towards Refugees from Syria. Migration Letters, 12(3), 209-225.
Bigo, Didier. 2002 Security and Immigration: Toward a Critique of the Governmentality of Unease, Alternatives 27: 63-92
De Genova, N. 2002 Migrant Illegality and Deportability in Everyday Life. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31: 419-447.
Anderson Bridget. 2006 Doing the Dirty Work The Global Politics of Domestic Labour In: Global Dimensions of Gender and Carework, Zimmerman, L. and Bose, Stanford University Press: 226-237.
Schrover, M. & Moloney, D. 2013 Introduction: Making a Difference (sf.7-54) In: Marlou Schrover & Deirdre Moloney (eds.) Gender, Migration and Categorisation: Making Distinctions between Migrants in Western Countries, 1945-2010, Amsterdam University Press.
İlkkaracan, P. & Gülçür, L. 2016 The Natasha Experience: Migrant Sex Workers from The Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe İn Turkey, Deconstructing Sexuality in the Middle East, 211-226.
Ataç, İ., Heck, G., Hess, S., Kaşlı, Z., Ratfisch, P., Soykan, C., & Yılmaz, B. (2017). Contested b/orders. Turkey's changing migration regime. An introduction. Movements. Journal for Critical Migration and Border Regime Studies, 3(2).
Saraçoğlu, C., & Belanger, D. (2025). How Turkey has governed Syrian refugees over a decade: a three-tiered class analysis. New Perspectives on Turkey, 73, 183-205.
The Law on Foreigners and International Protection, available at https://en.goc.gov.tr/lfip
İçduygu, A., Erder, S. & Gençkaya, Ö. F. 2014. Türkiye?nin Uluslararası Göç Politikaları, 1923-2023: Ulus-devlet Oluşumundan Ulus-Ötesi Dönüşümlere İstanbul: MiReKoç Proje Raporları 1/2014
Kivilcim, Zeynep. Legal Violence Against Syrian Female Refugees in Turkey Feminist Legal Studies 24, no.2, (2016): 193?214.
Bosniak, Linda S. 1991 Human rights, state sovereignty and the protection of undocumented migrants under the international migrant workers convention, The International Migration Review, 25(4): 737-770.
Krause, M. 2008 Undocumented migrants: An Arendtian perspective, European Journal of Political Theory, 7(3): 331-348.

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

Lecture

Assessment Methods and Criteria

	Quantity	Percentage (%)
Mid-term	1	20
Project	1	20
Attendance	1	15
Presentation of Case Study	1	15
Total(%)		70
Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%)		70
Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%)		30
Total(%)		100

ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload

Activities	Quantity	Duration (Hour)	Total Workload (Hour)
Midterm exam	1	1	1
Preparation for Quiz
Individual or group work	14	2	28
Preparation for Final exam	1	35	35
Course hours	14	3	42
Preparation for Midterm exam	1	20	20
Laboratory (including preparation)
Final exam	1	1	1
Homework
Presentation (including preperation)	1	3	3
Project	1	20	20
Total Work Load			150
Total Work Load / 30 (h)			5
ECTS Credit of the Course			5

Language of Instruction

English

Work Placement(s)

Programme Qualifications / Learning Outcomes

	LO1	LO2	LO3
K1	X	X
K2	X
K3	X	X
K4			X
K5	X
K6			X
K7			X
K8			X
K9
K10	X
K11
K12	X	X	X
K13	X	X	X