Governing migration and refugees

– towards pragmatic approaches and effective policies in a transatlantic perspective 

Hybrid Event on April 2nd 2024 (10:00 am – 1:00 pm – PT) ,

Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria, Sedgewick C 168

All Welcome – Registration required : https://t.ly/v_Wx_

 In current public debates, (irregular) migrants/ refugees are subject to divisive politics, a process in which in particular political elites mobilize fears and use this group as scapegoats in emotionally charged political campaigns. Arguably, the politicization of issues related to migration and refugees has been a driving force behind the rise of the radical right in many Western democracies. Yet, the governance of migration and refugees is largely removed from a rational process of democratic coordination, cooperation, contestation, and conflict resolution. It is hard to imagine a field of public policy making in which one would find a similar disjuncture between a highly polarizing politicization of the issue on the one hand and the lack of pragmatic-effective program or policy development on the other.

The event on April 2 will consider policies governing irregular migration and refugees from a comparative (transatlantic) perspective. What are promising ways of approaching this politically thorny issue from a policy perspective? What has worked, which approaches have proven to be effective and suitable/desirable in terms of their outcome on the ground?

Panel 1 – 10 am-11:30 am

Dr. Asad Kiyani, University of Victoria
Dr. Scott Watson, University of Victoria
Dr. Axel Kreienbrink, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Germany
Moderated by
Dr. Norbert Eschborn, Konrad Adenauer Foundation Canada

Panel 2 – 11:45 am- 1:00 pm 

Dr. Natascha Zaun, Leuphana Universität, Germany, UK
Dr. Dagmar Soennecken, York University
Dr. Christian Leuprecht, Royal Military Collage of Canada

Moderated by
Dr. Oliver Schmidtke, Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria