PEACEMAKERS 2017: “Securitization of International Migration: The Politics of Populism”                

Date: July 8, 2017

Venue: Pera Museum (Meşrutiyet Caddesi No.65, Tepebaşı – Beyoğlu, Istanbul)
RSVP DEADLINE: JULY 1, 2017

The Peacemakers Conference is open to public free of charge. However, we have limited seats. So if you wish to attend the Conference, please kindly send a confirmation e-mail to peacemakers@ku.edu.tr that includes your name, surname, institution where you work/study, your position and your mobile number.

Conference Program

10:00 – 10:30 Coffee & Registration

Welcoming and Opening Remarks

10:30 – 10:45 Prof. Dr. Umran S. İnan, President, Koç University
10:45 – 11:00 Prof. Dr. Ahmet İçduygu, Dean, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Koç University
11:00 – 11:15 Prof. Dr. Ziya Öniş, Professor of International Political Economy at Koç University, GLODEM Affiliate and Former Director

Keynote Speech

11:15 – 12:00 Dr. Franck Düvell, Senior Researcher & Associate Professor, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), The University of Oxford:
“From an Era of Conflicts to the Rise of Illiberalism. How the Migration Crisis triggered the Crisis of the EU”

 

12:00 – 14:00   Lunch Break

 

Panel Discussion

Moderator: Prof. Dr. Ahmet İçduygu, Dean, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Koç University
14:00 – 14:30 Prof. Philip Martin, Professor Emeritus, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis; Chair, UC Comparative Immigration & Integration Program, University of California, Davis:
“Managing Migration in an era of Populism”
14:30 – 15:00 Dr. Mustafa Aksakal, Researcher, Research Unit Transnationalization, Development and Migration, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University:
“Past and Current Trends in ‘Securitization and Migration Nexus’ in the Mexican-US Migration System”

 

15:00 – 15:20 Coffee Break

 

15:20 – 15:50 Prof. Matthias Koenig, Professor of Sociology/Sociology of Religion, University of Göttingen:
“Religious Boundary Dynamics in European Immigration Societies – Legal Openings and Social Closures”
15:50 – 16:20 Dr. Saime Özçürümez, Department of Political Science and Public Administration; Associate Dean, Faculty of Administrative, Economics and Social Sciences, Bilkent University:
“Humanitarian Crisis and Forced Migration: Conceptualizing Protection, Integration and Securitization”

16:20 – 17:00 Questions & Discussion

Please click on the names of the speakers below for their bios and abstracts

Prof. Dr. Umran S. İnan

Prof. Dr. Umran S. Ä°NAN

Umran S. Inan is currently the President of Koç University. He served for more than 30 years as Professor of Electrical Engineering and the Director of the Space, Telecommunications, and Radioscience Laboratory at Stanford University. Since 1990, he has also been the principal Ph.D. dissertation advisor to 60 students. Dr. Inan is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and the Electromagnetics Academy. He has served as the Chair of the U.S. National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science and the International Chair of Commission H of URSI. He was the recipient of the 2007 Allan V. Cox Medal for Faculty Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research; the 1998 Tau Beta Pi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching; several Group Achievement Awards from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the European Space Agency; the Antarctic Service Medal of the U.S., with an Antarctic Mountain named “Inan Peak” in his honor; and the 2008 Appleton Prize from URSI and the Royal Society. He received the TÜBİTAK Special Award in 2010 and was named a member of Türkiye’s Sciences Academy. He received Bachelor and Master degrees in Electrical Engineering from Middle East Technical University in 1972 and 1973, respectively, and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1977.

Prof. Dr. Ahmet İçduygu

Prof. Dr. Ahmet İç Duygu

Ahmet İçduygu is Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Koç University, Istanbul Türkiye. He currently holds a dual appointment as a full professor at Koç, one is in the Department of International Relations and the other is in the Department of Sociology. He is also the Director of the Migration Research Center at Koç (MiReKoc). He holds a PhD in Demography from the Australian National University. He is an elected member of the Science Academy in Türkiye. In addition to his own individual research projects, Prof. İçduygu has conducted various research projects for the international organizations such as IOM, UNHCR, EU, OECD and ILO. He teaches on migration studies, theories and practices of citizenship, international organizations, civil society, nationalism and ethnicity, and research methods.

Prof. Dr. Ziya Öniş

Prof. Dr. Ziya Öniş

Ziya Öniş is Professor of International Political Economy at Koç University in Istanbul. He is the former Director of both the Center for Research on Globalization, Peace and Democratic Governance (GLODEM) (2010-2013) and the Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities (2006-2009) at Koç University. Prior to his appointment at Koç University, he was a faculty member in the Economics Department at Boğaziçi University. His recent research focuses on the global financial crisis and its implications for future patterns of globalization, southern varieties of capitalism, democratization dilemmas in emerging powers, the political economy of Türkiye during the AKP era, new directions in Turkish foreign policy and domestic politics-foreign policy interactions.  His most recent publications include “Monopolising the Centre: The AKP and the Uncertain Path of Turkish Democracy”. The International Spectator, Vol. 50, No. 2 (2015); (with S. E. Aytaç) “Varieties of Neo-populism in a Changing Global Order: Divergent Paths of Erdoğan and Kirchnerismo”. Comparative Politics, Vol. 47, No. 1 (2014); “Türkiye and the Arab Revolutions: Boundaries of Regional Power Influence in a Turbulent Middle East”. Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2014); (with M.Kutlay) “Rising Powers in a Changing Global Order: The Political Economy of Türkiye in the Age of BRICS”. Third World Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 8 (2013). “Türkiye and the Arab Spring: Between Ethics and Self-Interest”, Insight Türkiye, Vol. 14, No.2 (2012) ; “ The Triumph of Conservative Globalism: The Political Economy of the AKP Era”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2012) ; “ Multiple Faces of the ‘New’ Turkish Foreign Policy: Underlying Dynamics and a Critique”, Insight Türkiye , Vol. 13, No.1 (2011); (with C. Bakır) “The Regulatory State and Turkish Banking Reforms in the Age of Post-Washington Consensus”, Development and Change, Vol. 41, No.1 (2010); (co-edited with F. Şenses) Türkiye and the Global Economy: Neo-liberal Restructuring and Integration in the Post-Crisis Era  (London: Routledge,  2009) ;“Beyond the 2001 Financial Crisis: The Political Economy of the New Phase of Neo-liberal Restructuring in Türkiye”. Review of International Political Economy, Vol. 16, No.3 (2009). He was elected as a Fellow of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) and received the prestigious TÜBİTAK Science Award in Social Sciences in 2012. He also received the Outstanding Faculty Award of Koç University in 2012.

 

Abstract:

The Age of Anxiety: the Crisis of Liberal Democracy in a Post-Hegemonic Global Order   

The crisis of liberal democracy is closely associated with major global shifts, which have been accelerated by the global financial crisis of 2008, with its dislocating effects in the established democracies of the global center. Relative stagnation and rising problems of inequality and unemployment coupled with additional shocks in the form of mass migration and terrorist attacks have generated fertile grounds for the rise of right-wing radical populist sentiments, which have been turned into electoral advantage by charismatic leaders. The crisis of liberal democracy is also a global phenomenon in the sense that liberal democracy has been severely challenged by the rise of strategic models of capitalism, notably its authoritarian version represented by the growing power and influence of the China-Russia coalition. Indeed, the success of the latter has served as a kind of reference for many authoritarian or hybrid regimes in a changing global context, at a time when the key Western powers appear to be losing their previous economic and moral appeal.

Dr. Govinda Clayton

Dr. Govinda Clayton

Dr. Govinda Clayton is a senior researcher in peace processes within the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich. His research interests include: negotiation; mediation; conflict management; civil war; bargaining theory; violence against civilians; non-state armed groups; pro-government militias; mathematical and statistical models; research design and methodology.

His doctoral research examined the use of third-party conflict management during civil war, in particular exploring the extent to which dyadic relations between belligerents influence the onset and outcome of mediation. His research remains primarily focused on negotiation and mediation during civil conflict, using advanced quantitative methods to systematically assess the conditions that shape the outcome of third-party led conflict management. He has published work in a number of leading international peer-reviewed journals, including: the Journal of Peace Research; International Studies Quarterly; Conflict Management and Peace Science; Cooperation and Conflict; and Studies of Conflict and Terrorism. Dr Clayton is also the Deputy Editor of International Peacekeeping.

Beyond academia Dr Clayton is actively involved in the development and practical use of conflict resolution methods. He is the executive director of the British Conflict Research Society (CRS) and a member of the Folke Bernadotte Academy conflict prevention working group. In a more practitioner ordinated role, Dr Clayton has run negotiation capacity building workshops and peacebuilding projects in locations including: Rome, Istanbul, Beirut and Seoul. Dr Clayton also consults with businesses and international organizations on conflict resolution methods.

Dr Clayton is an award winning teacher who is involved in the development of innovative teaching methodologies. In particular he has been instrumental in the development of role plays and online simulations for teaching negotiation. His work in this area has been awarded the British International Studies Association award for teaching innovation, a Social Science Faculty Teaching Prize, and two Kent Union Awards for ‘Best Teacher’. He has previously taught at institutions including: The University of Kent (Canterbury, UK), Koc University (Istanbul, Türkiye), Philipps University (Marburg, Germany) and Kobe University (Kobe, Japan).

Dr. Franck Düvell

Dr. Franck Düvell

Franck Düvell, PhD, social scientist; since 2014 he is Associate Professor and since 2006 Senior Researcher at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), University of Oxford. Previously, he was contract senior researcher at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) (2009-12), lecturer in sociology, political science and Geography at the University of Bremen, Germany (2004-8), and Jean Monnet Fellow at Robert-Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies/European University Institute (Florence) (2003-4). He sits on the steering committee of South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX) and on the advisory board of the Migration Research Centre of Koc University Istanbul. He is also member of the executive committee of PICUM (Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migration) and the Border Monitoring Project Ukraine. His research focuses on European and international migration and migration and border politics. He teaches Global Migration Governance, EU migration policy, migration transition of Russia and Türkiye, network theory and other subjects. He has recently conducted a project on the Mediterranean refugee crisis. He has published nine books, four special issues, around 40 journal articles and many book chapters, such as ‘The migration transition of Türkiye’ (Insight Türkiye 2014), ‘Transit Migration’ (AUP 2014), ‘Internationale und europäische Migration’ (Lit 2006), ‘Illegal Immigration in Europe’ (Palgrave 2006), and ‘Migration. Boundaries of equality and justice’ (Polity 2003, with Bill Jordan).

 

Abstract:

From an Era of Conflicts to the Rise of Illiberalism. How the Migration Crisis triggered the Crisis of the EU

From 2011, deepening inequality and the resurrection of geopolitics resulted in high levels of alienation, a series of uprisings, an often repressive backlash and violent conflicts in many parts of the world. As a result, 22 million people were forcefully displaced in the neighbourhood of the Europe. Of these, eight million fled to countries in the region whereas around two million moved to the EU. Usually they crossed borders without authorisation, occasionally waving banners demanding free passage and even stormed fences fuelling impressions that matters were out of control and national sovereignty threatened. As a consequence, armies and navies were deployed and fences erected not seen since the end of the Cold War, camps were built not seen since the 1930s and refugees have been constructed as the new sub-human. Meanwhile, the same inequality that contributed to the uprooting of millions of people in Africa, the Middle East and Asia also affected the lower classes of Europe. Their anxieties were exploited by populist leaders with their nationalist and partly destructive agendas which led to a rise of illiberal and aggressive agendas. As a consequence, not only the EU is in crisis but also the international human rights framework jeopardised and even the post-war peace order is threatened. Fresh thinking and concerted action is required to address the root causes of the current crises.

Prof. Philip Martin

Prof. Philip Martin

Philip Martin is a professor at the University of California, Davis (http://martin.ucdavis.edu), chair of the UC Comparative Immigration & Integration Program, and editor of Rural Migration News (http://migration.ucdavis.edu). He has consulted on farm labor and migration issues with US and international organizations and has authored many books and articles on farm labor and migration.

Abstract:

Managing Migration in an era of Populism

Managing the movement of people over national borders is a global issue often spotlighted by tragedies, as when a ship with migrants sinks.  The number of international migrants, people outside their country of birth or citizenship a year or more, doubled in the past two decades to 250 million. The major incentives to cross national borders are demographic and economic inequalities that, coupled with revolutions in communications, transportation and rights, make it easier to learn about opportunities, travel and stay abroad.  Inequalities are hard to reduce quickly, globalized communications and transportation have many benefits, so policy makers often manage migration by adjusting the rights of migrants. Populists are more willing to defy rights-based UN agencies, NGOs, and courts to adjust migrant rights in order to manage migration.

Dr. Mustafa Aksakal

Dr. Mustafa Aksakal

Mustafa Aksakal is a postdoctoral investigator in the Research Unit Transnationalisation, Migration and Development at the Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University. He accomplished his bi-national PhD in 2012 in Zacatecas, Mexico and in Bielefeld, Germany, which was funded by the Mexican state institution CONACYT. He has carried out extensive fieldwork in Zacatecas, Mexico and in Los Angeles, USA regarding the analysis of transnational migration from Mexico to the USA, particularly with respect to remittances and development outcomes. He published in this context his dissertation “Transnational Development: Limitations and potentialities of a model for ‘migration and development’. Case study Caxcania”. He has also extensive knowledge on different contemporary forms of migration and related policies in the German, EU and global context, including forced migration. Currently, he is involved in the research projects “Transnational Migration in Transition: Transformative Characteristics of Temporary Mobility of People (EURA-NET)” and “Youth mobility: maximising opportunities for individuals, labour markets and regions in Europe (YMOBILITY)”, both funded by the European Commision. Furthermore, he is teaching on different topics related to migration, climate change and international development at Bielefeld University.

Abstract:

Past and Current Trends in ‘Securitization and Migration Nexus’ in the Mexican-US Migration System

Immigration policies have changed in many traditional immigration countries over the last decades and are still changing. These shifts are also observable in the cases of the USA. The developments in the country’s immigration policies show that they increasingly shift towards more selective migration policies. In general terms, this means that highly-skilled migrants and international students were and are wanted and welcomed and other types of migrants, such as irregular migrants, humanitarian migrants and to some extend low-skilled migrants are seen as challenge.

The presentation sheds light on the tightening immigration policies and accompanied political rhetorics in the US, especially in relation to the Mexican irregular migration to the country. Particular attention will be paid to new trends, meaning the current political responses to the publicly identified migrants who represent a particular threat to democratic societies. By comparing past and present trends in public policies the ‘migration and securitization nexus’ will be approached as a political mechanism for the (re)production of social inequalities, in which especially the most vulnerable irregular migrants from are especially effected.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Koenig

Dr. Saime Ozcurumez

Matthias Koenig is full professor of sociology at the University of Göttingen and Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. He held visiting positions at the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, at the University of Toronto and at the University of Michigan. He has published widely on sociological theory, human rights, religion and immigrant integration in journals such as Ethnic and Racial Studies, International Migration Review, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and International Sociology. His recent publications include Religion and National Identities in an Enlarging Europe (co-edited with W. Knöbl & W. Spohn, Palgrave 2015), “Governance of religious diversity at the European Court of Human Rights” (in: J. Boulden & W. Kymlicka, eds., International Approaches to Governing Ethnic Diversity, Oxford University Press 2015), and “Religion and new immigrants’ labor market entry in Western Europe”, Ethnicities 16(2): 213-235 (with M. Malipaard and A. Güveli). His current research focuses on constitutional models of majority/minority relations in global comparative perspective and on religious mobilization in transnational legal arenas.

Abstract:

Religious Boundary Dynamics in European Immigration Societies – Legal Openings and Social Closures

As part of wider concerns over migration and integration, religion has become a key issue of public debate and political contestation in European immigration societies. Drawing on the sociology of boundaries, this paper analyzes the paradoxical dynamics of legal openings and social closures that have characterized responses to migration-driven religious diversity since the post-Cold War period. On the one hand, the rise of human rights regimes, European anti-discrimination law and constitutionalism has led to a striking opening of institutionalized religious boundaries. Remnants of Europe’s confessional age as articulated in cooperative church-state-relations and various privileges for Christian majorities have come under pressure, and courts have considerably expanded the individual and group rights of Muslim minorities. On the other hand, there is clear evidence for the persisting salience of religious boundaries in wider society. That religion is a powerful marker of categorical difference, intricately linked to processes of stigmatization, prejudice-based discrimination and social closure, is not only evinced by ethno-religious penalties on European suffered by Muslim migrants on labor markets but also by the political appeal of populism and its rhetoric of identitarian “Christianism”. Interpreting this disjuncture of legal openings and social closure, the paper discusses changing relationships between legal-political and socio-cultural membership in contemporary nation-states.

Dr. Saime Özçürümez

Dr. Saime Ozcurumez

Saime Özçürümez (Ph.D., McGill) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Bilkent University. She was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University (2015-2016) during her sabbatical, where she conducted research on the resilience of health care systems in Türkiye in response to mass influx of refugees from Syria. She has articles published in International Migration, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, Turkish Studies, Comparative European Politics, Journal of Common Market Studies, Uluslararasi Iliskiler-International Relations, Women’s Studies International Forum, European Political Science. She is the co-editor of two books: Of States, Rights and Social Closure with Palgrave and Asylum, International Migration and Statelessness: Concepts, Theories and Politics (in Turkish). She has co-authored several book chapters on immigration policy process and foreign policy in Türkiye in comparative perspective, Europeanization and collective identities through historical and media analysis in Türkiye and access to health care by ethno-cultural groups in Canada, Italy and Germany. She has been part of many international and national collaborative research projects on cultural diversity and health care systems; transcultural memory in Europe, collective identities in Europe and transformation of immigration and asylum governance in EU accession in Türkiye. Her current projects are on health care service response to refugees in the Middle East, local governments and social integration of the SuTP in Türkiye, employment and livelihood conditions of refugees in Türkiye.

 

Abstract:

Humanitarian Crisis and Forced Migration:

Conceptualizing Protection, Integration and Securitization

Humanitarian crisis has caused masses of forced migration around the world in different periods. Countries which began to host large communities of displaced populations seeking refuge from conflict began to encounter challenges in the governance of international protection in their countries. These challenges have conceptual, theoretical and empirical consequences for the study of the links among international protection, social integration and securitization. This study will investigate how the links among these concepts have been reconfigured legally, administratively and economically in the case of Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTP) in Türkiye since April 2011. It will examine the transformation in the legal and institutional framework, the role of different levels of government in social integration and the interaction with the host community in comparative perspective with different countries in the region.  The study suggests that the case of SuTP in Türkiye presents how protracted cross-border conflict can lead to the emergence of different paths of addressing international protection needs of displaced populations through innovative models of multi-actor and multi-level resilience strategies. The study also addresses the question of how and why models of resilience face challenges of sustainability and inclusiveness over a period of time. It concludes with a comparison of social integration strategies between the case of SuTP in Türkiye since April 2011 and the experience of countries of resettlement in Europe.