Call for Papers

Call for Papers: Conference on The Governance of Asylum and Migration in the European Union at the University of Salford, 26-27 January 2012

We invite abstracts from both advanced research postgraduate students and established researchers for our multidisciplinary conference on 'The Governance of Asylum and Migration in the European Union', to be held at the University of Salford (Greater Manchester) on 26-27 January 2012. The conference aims to assess the evolution of asylum and migration policies in the European Union in a multilevel governance perspective. It considers both the EU and the national levels and the interactions between these levels in a multidisciplinary perspective and with the input of practitioners. The conference is generously funded by a grant of the European Commission Jean Monnet Programme/Lifelong Learning Programme for the EUSIM project (2009-2012). 

In recent years, migration and asylum issues have become increasingly contentious in Western Europe and have been at the core of electoral campaigns in several EU Member States. As a result of the often salient character of migration and asylum during electoral campaigns, many states have seen frequent policy reforms in the area of asylum and migration. Over the last few months, regime change in several states in the Middle East has also led to significant migration flows, prompting renewed talks of 'migration crisis' in several European states and further changes to policies. In addition, asylum and migration are also policy issues on which the EU has been increasingly cooperating, in particular since 1999. The Stockholm programme adopted in 2009 foresees the development of a 'Europe of responsibility, solidarity and partnership in migration and asylum matters', which would have a 'dynamic and comprehensive migration policy' based on the so-called 'Global Approach to Migration', a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and an integrated border management system for the EU's external borders. In turn, these EU policy developments have had a significant impact on the national policies of the Member States. The influence of the EU over the Member States is set to become increasingly important as the EU seeks to go beyond minimum standards to adopt common standards with respect to various issues, most notably in the field of asylum.

In this fast-changing context, this conference aims to study more closely the interactions between the European Union and its Member States in the field of asylum and migration. It seeks to better understand

- how Member States shape the EU asylum and migration policy

- how the EU asylum and migration policy shapes domestic politics and policies in the field of asylum and migration.

The conference organisers therefore invite abstracts of papers tackling, amongst others, the following questions:

- What has been the role of specific Member States or groups of Member States in the development of the EU asylum and migration policy?

- What has been the impact of the EU asylum and migration policy on domestic policies in Europe? How far have national asylum and migration policies become Europeanised?

- What has been the impact of the EU asylum and migration policy on third states? To what extent have third states influenced the EU asylum and migration policy?

- What has been the impact of domestic policies and politics (including bilateral relations of Member States with third states) on the EU asylum and migration policy?

- What has been the impact of EU policies on the solidarity amongst Member States with regard to asylum, migration and borders matters (i.e. burden-sharing)?

- What has been the impact of the EU's enlargement on its asylum and migration policy?

- What have been the consequences of flexible integration arrangements such as Schengen for the EU and for the Member States concerned?

- What have been the main drivers of domestic and EU changes to asylum and migration? What has been the influence of factors such as security concerns and the economic and financial crisis?

- How much do domestic asylum and migration policies in Europe differ from one another?

- Has the involvement of the EU in asylum and migration matters benefited asylum-seekers and migrants?

Confirmed speakers include:

- Professor Heaven Crawley, University of Swansea

- Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas, Queen Mary University London

- Professor Dora Kostakopolou, University of Southampton 

- Dr Eiko Thielemann, London School of Economics and Political Science

- Dr Nick Vaughan-Williams, University of Warwick

- Dr Georg Menz, Goldsmith University of London

- Dr Carl Levy, Goldsmith University of London

- Dr Emanuela Paoletti, Somerville College, Oxford 

- Dr Liza Schuster, City University London

- Dr Agnieszka Weinar, EUI Florence 

- Dr Oleg Korneev, EUI Florence 

- Dr Alexandra Schwell, University of Vienna

- Dr Nadine El-Enany, Brunel University 

- Dr Sarah Wolff, University College London

- Dr Florian Trauner, Institute for European Integration Research Vienna

- Dr Ariadna Ripoll Servent, Institute for European Integration Research Vienna

- Raul Hernandez Sagrera, IBEI Barcelona

We welcome contributions from all disciplinary perspectives. We aim to contribute to the travel costs of presenters, depending on the number of participants and availability of funds.

If you are interested in presenting a paper, please send the following information to the organisers Dr Christian Kaunert (c.kaunert@salford.ac.uk) and Dr Sarah Leonard (s.leonard@salford.ac.uk) by Monday 5 December 2011:

1. An abstract of up to 250 words

2. A brief bio of up to 250 words

3. Your contact details:

a. Name

b. Institution

c. Full Postal Address

d. Email address

Please do not hesitate to get in touch should you have any questions.

Best regards,

Christian Kaunert & Sarah Leonard

Dr Christian Kaunert 
Senior Lecturer in EU Politics & International Relations, University of Salford, UK
Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow, European University Institute Florence, Italy

Editor Journal of Contemporary European Research: www.jcer.net <http://www.jcer.net/> 
Executive Committee Member UACES: www.uaces.org <http://www.uaces.org/> 

School of Humanities, Languages, and Social Sciences, Centre for European Security, University of Salford
Crescent House, Salford, Gr. Manchester, M5 4WT, UK 
E-mail: c.kaunert@salford.ac.uk 
Tel.: +44(0)161 295 4839