Call for Papers:
Studying Migration Policy at the Interface between Empirical Research and Normative Analysis

Issues of migration policy have gained in importance in Europe and around the globe. Against this background, the conference aims at reflecting the interface between empirical research on migration policy in the social sciences and the philosophical debate on the ethics of migration. The interdisciplinary exchange is particularly urgent for both disciplines: On the one hand, empirical research on migration policy often includes implicit normative assumptions about the role of the state and about the consequences of regulating access for migrants, for the host countries as well as for the countries of origin. To make these assumptions explicit could help to avoid polarisations that tend to complicate a productive exchange between different approaches. On the other hand, the philosophical debate that essentially aims at evaluating migration policies barely acknowledges the results of empirical research. Consequently, it ignores questions concerning the moral evaluation of specific policies that constitute borders and legal migration opportunities.
The international conference follows an interdisciplinary approach and invites participants to reflect on research on migration policies by jointly discussing methodological questions as well as concrete ethical problems in various areas of empirical research on migration policies.

Plenary lectures: Joseph Carens, Sandra Lavenex, David Miller, Ayelet Shachar and William Walters.

We kindly request for the submission of abstracts that speak to the following topics:

- Critical Migration Studies, Normative Convictions and Empirical Research

- Global Inequalities, the Birthright Lottery, and Border Control

- EU Migration Policies: Selected Entries and Stratified Rights

- The EU Border Regime and Asylum Politics: Fairness Against Refugees and Fairness Amongst States

- Exploring the Paths from Immigration to Membership: Observing
and Problematizing Inequalities within Citizenship

- The Ethics of Return and Deportation

All contributions should be oriented towards bridging the gap between empirical and normative discourses on migration policy. Joint contributions by empirical and normative researchers are explicitly welcome.
Please send abstracts of 400 to 500 words (in English or German) in PDF format to: migration@uni-muenster.de. Since the focus of the conference is to promote an interdisciplinary dialogue, presenters are responsible to turn in conference papers (or PPT slides) to their panel chairs and commentators in advance.

Submission deadline for abstracts: 23 March 2018.

For further questions, please contact us: migration@uni-muenster.de