Credit Points 10

Coordinator Selda Dagistanli Opens in new window

Description What kinds of illegal activities occur between and across borders? What do governments mean when they refer to “illegal immigrants”? This subject has a critical human security focus that aims to distinguish between illegal activity across borders and highly politicised narratives around immigration and asylum seeking. By examining the tensions between security, order and justice, the subject will focus on the increased demand for immigration and resettlement in a world marked by political unrest, global pandemics, and climate change. As such, students will critically examine notions of human mobility and the physical, legal and discursive construction of borders, and what that means pre and post-immigration for certain segments of the global population. These issues will be explored through global perspectives and with an interdisciplinary focus, emphasizing the impact of global issues on human lives. One of the core aims of this subject is to give students the ability to critically appraise how current domestic and international practices deployed by governments can perpetuate humanitarian and security crises, as well as the ever-increasing inequality between rich and poor nations. By the end of this subject, students will be able to make theoretically informed recommendations across rapidly changing and comparative national and political contexts.

School Social Sciences

Discipline Sociology

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp

Check your fees via the Fees page.

Level Postgraduate Coursework Level 5 subject

Restrictions

Students must be enrolled in 1923 - Master of Global Security and Justice.

Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this subject, students will be able to:

1. Examine notions of human mobility and political discourse. 
2. Appraise current domestic and international policies in immigration, security and border control.
3. Make theoretically informed recommendations for human security crises.
4. Work in teams to present alternative responses for human security crises.

Subject Content

• Tension between order and justice and how the idea of “borders” can create order and disorder in contemporary States.
• Theories and concepts of borders including: the historical and political creation of a concept of State sovereignty, geo-political borders (of countries). 
• Social order as a dynamic relationship between territory, identity and belonging.
• How contemporary issues around borders and immigration came to exist and what should - and can - be done about it? 
• Justice as a question of responsibility and ethics at the collective and personal level. 
• The impact of global issues and contemporary and historical political responses to them, on human lives.