Carleton University Fall 2012

Department of Political Science

PSCI 4817A
The International Politics of Forced Migration

Fridays, 11:35am to 2:25pm

Please confirm location on Carleton Central

Instructor: James Milner

Office: Loeb A629
Office hours: Tuesdays and Fridays, 10am to 11am (or by appointment)
Telephone: (613) 520-2600 x2211
e-mail: James_Milner@[Link]

Please note that e-mails relating to the course will be sent to your Carleton Central
account, not via WebCT. Also, please use your Carleton Central account when
sending an e-mail to the instructor and include the course code in the subject line.

First class: 7 September 2012

Last class: 30 November 2012

NOTE: No class meeting or office hours on 5 October 2012 (University Day)

Course web-page: On-line components of this course will be managed through

WebCT. Please visit the WebCT site at least once a week to receive the most current
information pertaining to the scheduling of the course and required readings.

Course objectives:
The prolonged presence of sprawling and insecure refugee camps in Africa and Asia,
the plight of ‘boat people’ seeking refuge in Europe and North America, and
controversies surrounding asylum seekers in Canada and elsewhere are but three
examples of the tensions between human rights principles and domestic, regional and
international politics. While a UN Agency was established in 1950 to ensure protection
for refugees and to find solutions to their plight, these objectives are frequently frustrated
by political constraints. How can this tension be reconciled?

The objective of this course is to introduce students to the major themes and tensions
that currently affect the global refugee regime. Through the course, students will be
expected to develop an understanding of the origins and elements of the global refugee
regime, current issues it is seeking to resolve, the significance of these issues in the
resolution of contemporary refugee situations, and the role that local, national, regional
and global politics play in the origins and development of these issues.

Working through a series of lectures, seminars and case studies, the course will present
a history of the global refugee regime, focusing on its functions and components, before
considering issues that currently confront the regime. The course will conclude by
applying these concepts to contemporary refugee situations and examining the local,
national, regional and international obstacles to ensuring the protection of refugees and
to finding a solution to their plight.

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Course outline:
The course is divided into three sections:

Section 1 provides an overview of the global refugee regime, including an introduction

to core instruments such as the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and
organizations such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). Section 1 will also consider the meaning of international refugee protection,
definitions of refugees and understandings of protection, and the functioning of the
global refugee regime.

Section 2 will turn to a more specific examination of contemporary issues confronting

the international refugee protection regime, including the politics of asylum in the global
North and South, the range of solutions available to refugees, protracted refugee
situations, the relationship between security and refugee movements, and challenges of
international cooperation and so-called ‘burden sharing’.

This section will include case studies of particular refugee-hosting states to examine how
the themes and issues raised during the course are applied in the context of the
resolution of specific contemporary refugee situations. Working as a class, we will
examine current refugee situations, the challenges to refugee protection in each case,
and consider possible ways of finding solutions to both the protection challenges faced
by refugees and to the refugee situation itself.

Section 3 will conclude the course by considering new challenges confronting the global
refugee regime and a consideration of how the global refugee regime, especially
UNHCR, can respond to these challenges in the coming years.

Requirements:

Reading critiques 20%

Reading critique 1: 10%
Reading critique 2: 10%

Research paper 65%

Essay proposal: 10% (due 28 September 2012)
Seminar presentation: 15% (Weeks 5 to 10)
Final paper: 40% (due 23 November 2012)

Participation 15%

As per early feedback guidelines, the essay proposal due on 28 September 2012 will
be graded and returned to students the following week.

There is no final exam for this course. Instead, students are required to actively engage
in reading, writing and participation throughout the term through four elements:

Reading critiques: Students are required to write 2 reading critiques over the course of
the term. Reading critiques should be 3 to 4 pages long, double spaced and referenced.
Critiques should summarise the key arguments of the readings, contrast the
perspectives of the readings, and respond to the readings within the context of the

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course. Is there a tension between the readings? What contribution do they make? Do
you agree with their position? How do the arguments of the authors relate to the broader
themes of the course? Reading critiques must be submitted at the start of class. A
grading rubric for reading critiques is posted on the homepage of WebCT.

Individual research: Given the wide range of issues relating to the global refugee regime
and protection and solutions for refugees and other displaced persons, and given the
limited number of topics that can be addressed in a 12-week course, an important
element of this course will revolve around the students’ individual research interests,
which may go beyond the issues detailed in this course outline. Students will be
expected to identify a research issue that relates to the themes of the course and is of
interest to them. Students will then be expected to conduct independent research on that
issue over the course of the term, with the support of the course instructor. This research
will then be presented to the class in a seminar presentation and form the basis of the
final paper for the course.

Research presentation: Starting on 12 October 2012, each student will be required to

present their research issue as part of a research showcase. Presentations will be a
maximum of 10-minutes, and should include an introduction to the issue, a discussion of
the student’s research and some questions for class discussion. Research presentations
will be scheduled for weeks 5 to 10 of the course. The scheduling of presentations, and
their requirements, will be discussed in the first class meeting.

Research paper: In addition to the research presentation, students are required to

present their research findings in the form of a research paper. Students will be required
to submit a 3 to 5 page proposal, inclusive of a bibliography, on their selected issue at
the start of class on 28 September 2012. Based on feedback from the paper proposal
and the presentation, students will be required to write a 15 to 18 page paper, which is
due at the start of class on 23 November 2012.

Participation: 15% of the final grade is for participation. Students are expected not only
to attend class meetings, but engage in class discussion. While this is a large class, it
will be run as a senior undergraduate seminar. Students who submit reading critiques
in a given week will be especially expected to contribute to class discussions. A grading
rubric for class participation is posted on the homepage of WebCT.

Students are also expected to remain informed on current events relating to the global
refugee regime, which will form a key component of class discussions. Students may
wish to refer to the daily briefings from the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), available on-line: [Link]

Late penalties: Reading critiques submitted after the start of class will receive a
grade of 0%. All other assignments submitted after the due date will be penalized by 5%
of the 100% assignment grade per 24 hours. Exceptions to this policy will only be made
for academic accommodations, as outlined below, or for medical or personal
emergencies substantiated by official documentation. Late papers must be submitted via
the drop box in the Department of Political Science (Loeb B640).

NOTE: The departmental drop box cut off time is 4pm. Any assignments
submitted after 4pm will be date stamped for the following weekday.

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Readings and required texts:
While the majority of readings for the course are available electronically at no cost to
the student, there is one required text for the course:

Betts, Alexander, Gil Loescher and James Milner, UNHCR: The politics and practice of
refugee protection, second edition, New York: Routledge, 2012.

A copy of this title will be held in the Reserve Collection at the Carleton Library. It is also
available for purchase at Octopus Books, 116 Third Avenue (Third and Bank).

In addition, it is recommended that students consult other books, web-sites and

journals, including:

Books

Betts, Alexander, Forced Migration and Global Politics, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.

Betts, Alexander and Gil Loescher (eds.), Refugees in International Relations, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2011.

Feller, Erika, Volker Türk and Frances Nicholson (eds.), Refugee Protection and
International Law: UNHCR’s Global Consultations on Refugee Protection,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Gibney, Matthew J., The Ethics and Politics of Asylum: Liberal Democracy and the
Responses to Refugees, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Goodwin-Gill, Guy, and Jane McAdam, The Refugee in International Law, Third Edition,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Haddad, Emma, The Refugee in International Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 2008.

Helton, Arthur, The Price of Indifference: Refugees and humanitarian action in the new
century, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Loescher, Gil, The UNHCR in World Politics: A Perilous Path, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2001.

Milner, James, Refugees, the State and the Politics of Asylum in Africa, Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Terry, Fiona, Condemned to Repeat?: The paradox of humanitarian action, Ithaca:

Cornell University Press, 2002.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), The State of the World’s
Refugees: In search of solidarity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Zolberg, Aristide R., Astri Suhrke, and Sergio Aguayo, Escape from Violence: Conflict
and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1989.

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Journals

Forced Migration Review

International Journal of Refugee Law
International Migration
Journal of Refugee Studies
Refugee Survey Quarterly
Refuge
These journals may be accessed either on-line or through the list of electronic journals
held by the Carleton Library: [Link]

Web-sites

Forced Migration On-line: [Link]

PRS Project (Oxford): [Link]
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): [Link]
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: [Link]
US Committee for Refugees: [Link]

Provisional outline of course topics:

Below is a tentative weekly breakdown of the course and possible readings.

Please consult WebCT regularly for updates to this list of weekly topics and readings, in
addition to information about the course.

Week 1
7 September 2012: Introduction: Refugees and global politics

Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner, “Introduction”, UNHCR: The politics
and practice of refugee protection, New York, Routledge, 2012.

Alexander Betts, “Global Governance”, Forced Migration and Global Politics, Oxford:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2009 (available in the Reserve Collection).

UNHCR, "Chapter 1: Current dynamics of displacement", The State of the World's

Refugees: Human Displacement in the New Millennium, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2006. ([Link] )

See also: UNHCR, Global Trends 2011, [Link]

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Week 2
14 September 2012: The origins and evolution of the global refugee regime

Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner, “Chapter 1: The origins of international
concern for refugees”, UNHCR: The politics and practice of refugee protection, New
York, Routledge, 2012.

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 428(V) of 14 December 1950 and Annex:
Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
([Link]

Gil Loescher, “The UNHCR and World Politics: State interests vs. institutional
autonomy”, International Migration Review, Vol. 35, no. 1, Spring 2001 (available
through electronic journals).

UNHCR, “Chapter 1: The early years”, The State of the World’s Refugees: Fifty Years of
Humanitarian Protection, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
([Link]

Week 3
21 September 2012: Who is a refugee?

Andrew Shacknove, “Who is a refugee?”, Ethics, Vol. 95, no. 2, 1985 (available through
electronic journals).

Roger Zetter, “Labelling Refugees: Forming and Transforming a Bureaucratic Identity”,

Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 4, no. 1, 1991 (available through electronic journals).

1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (included in:

[Link]

1969 Convention on the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa

([Link]
[Link]/Official_documents/Treaties_%20Conventions_%20Protocols/Refugee_Conve
[Link])

Week 4
28 September 2012: The global refugee regime during the Cold War
Due: Essay proposals

Today’s class will include a screening of scenes from the film Charlie Wilson’s War,
which is rated 14A due to coarse language and scenes of violence.

Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner, “Chapter 2: UNHCR in the Cold War,
1950-91”, UNHCR: The politics and practice of refugee protection, New York, Routledge,
2012.

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Gil Loescher, “Chapter 7: The New Cold War and the UNHCR under Poul Hartling”, The
UNHCR and World Politics: A Perilous Path, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001
(available as an e-book).

Rüdiger Schöch, “UNHCR and the Afghan Refugees in the early 1980s: Between
humanitarian action and Cold War politics”, Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 27, no. 1,
2008 (available through electronic journals).

UNHCR, “Chapter 5: Proxy wars in Africa, Asia and Central America”, The State of the
World’s Refugees: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Protection, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000. ([Link]

5 October 2012: University Day (no class meeting or office hours)

Week 5
12 October 2012: The global refugee regime since the Cold War

Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner, “Chapter 3: UNHCR in the post-Cold
War era”, UNHCR: The politics and practice of refugee protection, New York, Routledge,
2012.

B. S. Chimni, “The Geopolitics of Refugee Studies: A View from the South”, Journal of
Refugee Studies, Vol. 11, no. 4, 1998 (available through electronic journals).

Anne Hammerstad, “Whose security? UNHCR, refugee protection and state security
after the Cold War”, Security Dialogue, Vol. 31, no. 4, 2000 (available through electronic
journals).

Tor Krever, “’Mopping-Up’: UNHCR, Neutrality, and Non-Refoulement since the Cold
War”, Chinese Journal of International Law, Vol. 10, issue 3, 2011 (available through
electronic journals).

The second half of class will feature research presentations. See WebCT for topics.

Week 6
19 October 2012: The politics and practice of UNHCR’s mandate:
Protection in the global North

Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner, “Chapter 4: The politics and practice of
UNHCR’s mandate”, UNHCR: The politics and practice of refugee protection, New York,
Routledge, 2012.

Matthew J. Gibney, “Introduction” and “Chapter 7: From ideal to non-ideal theory:

reckoning with the state, politics and consequences”, The Ethics and Politics of Asylum:
Liberal Democracies and the Response to Refugees, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2004 (available as an e-book).

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Gil Loescher and James Milner, “The Missing Link: The need for comprehensive
engagement in protracted refugee situations”, International Affairs, Volume 79, number
3, 2003 (available through electronic journals).

The second half of class will feature research presentations. See WebCT for topics.

Week 7
26 October 2012: The politics and practice of UNHCR’s mandate:
Protection in the global South (specifically Africa)

James Milner, “Chapter 1: Understanding the State and the Politics of Asylum in Africa”
and “Chapter 8: The Politics of Asylum in Africa”, Refugees, the State and the Politics of
Asylum in Africa, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 (available as an e-book).

Assefaw Bariagber, “States, International Organizations and the Refugee: Reflections on

the Complexity of Managing the Refugee Crisis in the Horn of Africa”, The Journal of
Modern African Studies, Vol. 37, no. 4, December 1999 (available through electronic
journals).

Tiyanjana Maluwa, “The Refugee Problem and the Quest for Peace and Security in
Southern Africa”, International Journal of Refugee Law, Vol. 7, no. 4, 1995 (available
through electronic journals).

The second half of class will feature research presentations. See WebCT for topics.

Week 8
2 November 2012: The politics and practice of UNHCR’s mandate: Solutions

Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner, “Chapter 4: The politics and practice of
UNHCR’s mandate”, UNHCR: The politics and practice of refugee protection, New York,
Routledge, 2012 (review).

James Milner and Gil Loescher, “Responding to Protracted Refugee Situations: Lessons
from a decade of discussion”, Forced Migration Policy Briefing, No. 6, Refugee Studies
Centre, University of Oxford, January 2011 ([Link]
briefings/[Link]).

Alexander Betts, “Historical lessons for overcoming protracted refugee situations”, in Gil
Loescher, James Milner, Edward Newman and Gary Troeller (eds.), Protracted Refugee
Situations: Political, Human Rights and Security Implications, Tokyo: United Nations
University Press, 2008 (available in the Reserve Collection).

B. S. Chimni, “From resettlement to involuntary repatriation: Towards a critical history of

durable solutions to refugee problems”, New Issues in Refugee Research, Working
Paper No. 2, Geneva: UNHCR, May 1999
([Link]

The second half of class will feature research presentations. See WebCT for topics.

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Week 9
9 November 2012: Case studies: Kenya and Tanzania

James Milner, “Chapter 5: Kenya”, in Refugees, the State and the Politics of Asylum in
Africa, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 (available as an e-book).

Anna Lindley, “Between a protracted and a crisis situation: Policy responses to Somali
refugees in Kenya”, Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 30, no. 4, 2011 (available through
electronic journals).

James Milner, “Chapter 5: Tanzania”, in Refugees, the State and the Politics of Asylum
in Africa, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 (available as an e-book).

Saskia van Hoyweghen, “Mobility, territoriality and sovereignty in post-colonial

Tanzania”, Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 21, no. 1 and 2, 2002 (available through
electronic journals).

Jessie Thomson, “Durable solutions for Burundian refugees in Tanzania”, Forced

Migration Review, Issue 33, September 2009,
([Link]

The second half of class will feature research presentations. See WebCT for topics.

Week 10
16 November 2012: New challenges for the global refugee regime

Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner, “Chapter 5: UNHCR as a global
institution”, UNHCR: The politics and practice of refugee protection, New York,
Routledge, 2012.

Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner, “Chapter 6: New Challenges”, UNHCR:
The politics and practice of refugee protection, New York, Routledge, 2012.

Etienne Piguet, Antoine Pécoud, and Paul de Guchteneire, “Migration and Climate
Change: An Overview”, Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 30, no. 3, 2011 (available
through electronic journals).

UNHCR, “Chapter 7: Internally displaced persons”, The State of the World’s Refugees:
Humanitarian Displacement in the New Millennium, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2006 ([Link]

The second half of class will feature research presentations. See WebCT for topics.

Week 11
23 November 2012: Individual experiences within the global refugee regime
Due: Essays

Today’s class will include a screening of the film Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars.

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Prem Kumar Rajaram, “Humanitarianism and Representations of the Refugee”, Journal
of Refugee Studies, Vol. 15, no. 3, 2002 (available through electronic journals).

Jennifer Hyndman, “Refugee Camps as Conflict Zones: The Politics of Gender” in

Wenona Giles and Jennifer Hyndman (eds.), Sites of Violence: Gender and conflict
zones, Berkley: University of California Press, 2004 (available in the Reserve Collection).

Carolina Moulin and Peter Nyers “’We Live in a Country of UNHCR’: Refugee Protests
and Global Political Society”, International Political Sociology, Vol. 1, issue 4, 2007
(available through electronic journals).

Simon Turner, “Under the Gaze of the ‘Big Nations’: Refugees, Rumours and the
International Community in Tanzania”, African Affairs, Vol. 103, 2004 (available through
electronic journals).

Week 12
30 November 2012: Towards the future: Beyond the 60th Anniversary of UNHCR

Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner, “Conclusion: Towards the future”,
UNHCR: The politics and practice of refugee protection, New York, Routledge, 2012.

B. S. Chimni, “Reforming the International Refugee Regime: A Dialogic Model”, Journal

of Refugee Studies, Vol. 14, no. 2, 2001 (available through electronic journals).

Amy Slaughter and Jeff Crisp, “A surrogate state? The role of UNHCR in protracted
refugee situations”, New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper No. 168, Geneva:
UNHCR, January 2009 ([Link]

UNHCR, "Chapter 8: Looking to the future", The State of the World's Refugees: Human
Displacement in the New Millennium, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006
([Link]

Academic Accommodations

For students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities requiring academic

accommodations in this course must register with the Paul Menton Centre for Students
with Disabilities (500 University Centre) for a formal evaluation of disability-related
needs. Registered PMC students are required to contact the centre (613-520-6608)
every term to ensure that the instructor receives your request for accommodation. After
registering with the PMC, make an appointment to meet with the instructor in order to
discuss your needs at least two weeks before the first assignment is due or the first
in-class test/midterm requiring accommodations. If you require accommodation for
your formally scheduled exam(s) in this course, please submit your request for
accommodation to PMC by 9 November 2012 for December examinations and 8
March 2013 for April examinations.

For Religious Observance: Students requesting accommodation for religious

observances should apply in writing to their instructor for alternate dates and/or means

10
of satisfying academic requirements. Such requests should be made during the first two
weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to
exist, but no later than two weeks before the compulsory academic event.
Accommodation is to be worked out directly and on an individual basis between the
student and the instructor(s) involved. Instructors will make accommodations in a way
that avoids academic disadvantage to the student. Instructors and students may contact
an Equity Services Advisor for assistance ([Link]/equity).

For Pregnancy: Pregnant students requiring academic accommodations are

encouraged to contact an Equity Advisor in Equity Services to complete a letter of
accommodation. Then, make an appointment to discuss your needs with the instructor at
least two weeks prior to the first academic event in which it is anticipated the
accommodation will be required.

Plagiarism: The University Senate defines plagiarism as “presenting, whether

intentional or not, the ideas, expression of ideas or work of others as one’s own.” This
can include:

• reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished

material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as one’s own without proper
citation or reference to the original source;
• submitting a take-home examination, essay, laboratory report or other assignment
written, in whole or in part, by someone else;
• using ideas or direct, verbatim quotations, or paraphrased material, concepts, or ideas
without appropriate acknowledgment in any academic assignment;
• using another’s data or research findings;
• failing to acknowledge sources through the use of proper citations when using
another’s works and/or failing to use quotation marks;
• handing in "substantially the same piece of work for academic credit more than once
without prior written permission of the course instructor in which the submission occurs.

Plagiarism is a serious offence which cannot be resolved directly with the course’s
instructor. The Associate Deans of the Faculty conduct a rigorous investigation,
including an interview with the student, when an instructor suspects a piece of work has
been plagiarized. Penalties are not trivial. They include a mark of zero for the
plagiarized work or a final grade of "F" for the course.

Oral Examination: At the discretion of the instructor, students may be required to pass
a brief oral examination on research papers and essays.

Submission and Return of Term Work: Papers must be handed directly to the
instructor and will not be date-stamped in the departmental office. Late assignments may
be submitted to the drop box in the corridor outside B640 Loeb. Assignments will be
retrieved every business day at 4 p.m., stamped with that day's date, and then
distributed to the instructor. For essays not returned in class please attach a stamped,
self-addressed envelope if you wish to have your assignment returned by mail. Please
note that assignments sent via fax or email will not be accepted. Final exams are
intended solely for the purpose of evaluation and will not be returned.

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Grading: Assignments and exams will be graded with a percentage grade. To convert
this to a letter grade or to the university 12-point system, please refer to the following
table.

Percentage Letter grade 12-point scale Percentage Letter grade 12-point scale
90-100 A+ 12 67-69 C+ 6
85-89 A 11 63-66 C 5
80-84 A- 10 60-62 C- 4
77-79 B+ 9 57-59 D+ 3
73-76 B 8 53-56 D 2
70-72 B- 7 50-52 D- 1

Grades: Final grades are derived from the completion of course assignments. Failure
to write the final exam will result in the grade ABS. Deferred final exams are available
ONLY if the student is in good standing in the course.

Approval of final grades: Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor

subject to the approval of the Faculty Dean. This means that grades submitted by an
instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved
by the Dean.

Connect Email Accounts: All email communication to students from the Department of
Political Science will be via Connect. Important course and University information is also
distributed via the Connect email system. It is the student’s responsibility to monitor their
Connect account.

Carleton Political Science Society: The Carleton Political Science Society (CPSS) has
made its mission to provide a social environment for politically inclined students and
faculty. Holding social events, debates, and panel discussions, CPSS aims to involve all
political science students in the after-hours academic life at Carleton University. Our
mandate is to arrange social and academic activities in order to instill a sense of
belonging within the Department and the larger University community. Members can
benefit through numerous opportunities which will complement both academic and social
life at Carleton University. To find out more, please email carletonpss@[Link], visit
our website at [Link], or come to our office in Loeb D688.

Official Course Outline: The course outline posted to the Political Science website is
the official course outline.

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