This course will address the global legal, policy and ethical dimensions of governing asylum and refugees across borders. It will engage with the concepts and regulation of specialized branches of international law related to forced displacement, including international refugee law and international human rights law, security and anti-terrorism policy instruments, as well as border control and nationality and statelessness measures. The course will begin with the historical origins and development of the international system that regulate refugee movements and protection, including its philosophical bases. The different regimes, actors and institutions playing a role in forced migration governance will be examined next, followed by the study of substantive law and policy, including relevant practice and caselaw of national and international courts and UN Treaty bodies. The course will critically appraise key issues regarding refugee rights and realities, engaging scholarship from international law, politics and IR, and debates in global justice, ethics and political theory. The aim is to equip students with knowledge and understanding of the global refugee regime, and debates about whether it is just.
