15221
Graduate Course
SoSe 17: Refugee law from a democratic theory perspective
Dana Schmalz
Comments
The course discusses the legal framework of refugee protection with a focus on its entanglement with democratic theory questions. It will consist of readings from political theory, critical legal theory, summary texts on history and practice of refugee protection, and selected court decisions. A first part of the course will look at the refugee concept and its particular position vis-à-vis the legitimacy framework of the territorial state. Historically, the concept of the refugee emerges alongside the territorial order of states. It figures as an exception to the general rule of unilateral decision about access and in that role both affirms and questions the territorial delimitation of the community. On that basis, the course will explore the conditions of legal codification and the evolution of refugee definitions in law. In a second part, the course will examine the role of human rights law for refugees, both its potential and its limits. This in particular relates to state strategies of deterrence, which constitute a key feature and key challenge in the current system of international protection. The availability of human rights protection in these constellations illustrates a tension between their aspired universality and their dependence on particular legal frameworks. A third part of the course will deal with the role of humanitarian organizations in refugee protection, which equally can be analyzed from the viewpoint of political membership questions. Overall, the course offers a broad overview on contemporary issues in refugee protection. It invites students to think critically about what the (legal) concept of the refugee can offer today and what problems it brings. And it invites them to reflect about the figure of the refugee in debates regarding democracy under conditions of globalization. close
7 Class schedule
Regular appointments
Fri, 2017-04-28 13:00 - 17:00
Fri, 2017-05-05 13:00 - 17:00
Sat, 2017-05-06 10:00 - 14:00
Fri, 2017-05-12 13:00 - 17:00
Sat, 2017-05-13 10:00 - 14:00
Fri, 2017-05-19 13:00 - 17:00
Sat, 2017-05-20 10:00 - 14:00