RTG 2987: Mobility Rights in
the Global Context of Multiple Crises

Research Areas for PhD project proposals


The aim of this RA is to analyse normative issues pertaining to migration ethics and to mobility rights in particular through the lens of non-ideal theorising. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): which political-feasibility considerations give rise to legitimate constraints on migration (especially under the condition of multiple crises), and which do not?; what does it mean for a state to do its fair share within the international migration regime given that more and more refuse to do so?; how to do justice to the specific vulnerabilities of certain social groups (for instance with regards to gender, sexual orientation, religion and similar, as well as their intersections) in the context of migration?

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: Doctoral students in this RA are expected to have experience in normative theorising and a background in political, moral or social philosophy, political theory or legal theory. Given the methodological focus on non-ideal theorising, a willingness to participate in interdisciplinary discourse and to take empirical findings closely into account while engaging in normative theorising is strongly encouraged.

Supervisor/ contact: Prof. Dr. Christine Bratu, Seminar for Philosophy (christine.bratu@uni-goettingen.de)

Regional and international organisations – including the European Union, the International Organization for Migration and UNHCR – have developed “complementary pathways for safe admission”. These pathways – such as family-reunification and labour-mobility schemes – target individuals both with and without international protection needs. While presented as innovative solutions, these initiatives often blur the boundaries between established legal categories previously defined by human rights, asylum or resettlement law, and generally lack enforceable legal status. The RA aims to analyse, then, how regional organisations develop and implement these policies on “pathways to legal migration”.

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: We seek doctoral students with an excellent master’s degree in Political Science, International Relations, or related fields, with expertise on international organisations, international migration law and / or the national laws of Germany and Australia. Candidates must demonstrate strong qualitative and/or quantitative research skills. Previous experience working with international organisations or expertise in relevant regional studies is highly valued.

Supervisor/ contact: Prof. Dr. Anja Jetschke, Institute of Political Science (anja.jetschke@sowi.uni-goettingen.de)

In this RA, we want to shed light on the EU border regime and its recent dynamics in relation to the question of de jure and de facto mobility rights at the external border zones in the Aegean Sea, the Balkans or in Eastern Europe. We seek to examine how the different actors involved (state, quasi-state, civil society and migrants as actors) relate to and practise rights and legal norms, as well as how they navigate them in the context of legal uncertainty and violent terrains. This RA is especially interested in understanding practices of “rights mobilisation” from below.

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: Doctoral students in this RA are expected to have experience in Critical Border or Migration Studies, and in qualitative, ethnographic research methods, as well as regional expertise on the Aegean Sea, the Balkans or Eastern Europe. Own research experience in one of the mentioned regions is highly valued.

Supervisor/ contact: Prof. Dr. Sabine Hess, Institute of Cultural Anthropology/ European Ethnology (shess@uni-goettingen.de)

This RA sheds light on how the laws to combat people smuggling are enacted along European and national borders. It sets out to illuminate the effects of criminal-justice interventions which are conducted in the name of so-called humanitarian attempts to combat smuggling on migrants’ and refugees’ right to enter, and the accompanying intensification of border regimes. Further, we are keen to explore empirically and jurisprudentially how the law and law-enforcement practices can be improved to focus specifically on the business models of highly organised people-smuggling gangs without undermining the right to enter.

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: Doctoral students in this RA are expected to have experience in Legal Anthropology or Political Anthropology, Criminology, Law or Critical Migration Studies, and should be trained in qualitative methods (interviews, participant observation, discourse analyses), quantitative methods and/or legal doctrine-related methods.

Supervisor/ contact: Prof. Dr. Friederike Faust, Institute of Cultural Anthropology/ European Ethnology (friederike.faust@uni-goettingen.de); Prof. Dr. Alexander Baur , Chair of Criminal Law and Criminology (alexander.baur@jura.uni-goettingen.de)

In this RA, we will explore the nexus of language (rights) and the governance of population movements by shedding light on how language requirements and policies are intertwined with migration (control) rationales. Language (testing) regimes will be analysed across EU member states in order to track changes in discourse and to question the underlying rationales of a restrictive language–participation nexus.

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: Doctoral students in this RA are expected to have experience in linguistic-discourse studies and should be trained in qualitative, ethnographic research methods. Knowledge of languages such as Turkish, Arabic, Russian or others is of advantage.

Supervisor/ contact: Prof. Dr. Andrea Bogner, Department of Intercultural German Studies (andrea.bogner@phil.uni-goettingen.de)

This RA examines the dynamics and obstacles that arise as part of the current tension between a massive demand for labour in the societies of the Global North and increasingly restrictive border regimes. We focus on analysing the extent to which orders of mobility are modified in the ongoing reconfiguration of the border regime. We examine challenges and limits of labour laws and social regulations, especially in the context of a recomposition of workforces. Against the backdrop of the multiple forms of precarity facing new arrivals, different actors’ possibilities to enforce labour law and mobility rights will be critically considered.

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: Doctoral students in this RA are expected to have experience in qualitative research methods (case studies, document analysis, interviews, participant observation), labour-market and labour-process analysis. Profound knowledge of labour law is highly valued.

Supervisor/ contact: PD Dr. Peter Birke, Sociological Research Institute Göttingen (peter.birke@sofi.uni-goettingen.de)

Social policy has increasingly become the focus of migration-control efforts despite the fact that the German Constitutional Court established some limits to the possibility of reducing social benefits for non-Germans. This research, based in legal science, will investigate – against the backdrop of national and EU law – how restrictions on social rights are discursively legitimised (for example, by reproducing the myth of social benefits being a pull factor) and used as a tool of migration control. The RA will also study the effects hereof for mobility rights given the ambiguities arising in terms of law and practice.

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: Doctoral students in this RA are expected to have experience in migration and social law, knowledge of social policy and/ or proficiency in using qualitative research methods (document analysis, analyses of case law and jurisprudence, interviews).

Supervisor/ contact: Prof. Dr. Olaf Deinert, Professorship of Civil Law, Labor Law and Social Law (olaf.deinert@jura.uni-goettingen.de); Prof. Timo Weishaupt, PhD, Institute of Sociology (timo.weishaupt@sowi.uni-goettingen.de)

In this RA, we ask how the interplay of discrimination, precarious housing and employment, and limited (access to) social rights affect migrants’ and refugees’ individual vulnerabilities and experiences of social exclusion. Taking a socio-legal perspective, we pay particular attention to how migrants and refuges can use de jure rights to fight injustice and exploitation as well as how landlords, employers and bureaucrats interpret, shape, disregard or even bend existing rights in practice.

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: Doctoral students in this RA are expected to have experience in qualitative research methods (document analysis, interviews, participant observation), (German) social policy and Migration Studies. Knowledge of languages such as Arabic, Bulgarian, Persian, Polish or Romanian is of advantage.

Supervisor/ contact: Prof. Timo Weishaupt, PhD, Institute of Sociology (timo.weishaupt@sowi.uni-goettingen.de)

This RA explores the role of religious communities as agents and advocates of mobility rights. While there has been ample research on faith-based organisations as providers of refugee aid, their role in supporting mobility rights has so far received little attention. The practice of church asylum offers a promising avenue of research for furthering the RTG’s overall socio-legal approach. Another such avenue could be the involvement of religious communities in asylum decision-making in order to confirm a given applicant’s belonging to a persecuted religious minority.

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: Doctoral students in this RA are expected to have practical experience in qualitative research methods (interviews, participant observation, focus groups) and social-scientific research at the intersection of religion and migration.

Supervisor/ contact: Prof. Dr. Alexander-Kenneth Nagel, Institute of Sociology (talexander-kenneth.nagel@sowi.uni-goettingen.de)

In this RA we ask how mobility rights are negotiated, enforced or forfeited within criminal-justice institutions such as the prison or under probationary assistance. Criminal-justice institutions are designed to serve their main purpose for existence, namely the reintegration of offenders into society (“resocialisation”) and thus have great leeway to influence an offender’s future politico-legal status. In consequence, we want to further research their potential impacts on how an offender’s residence status is negotiated. Further, we aim to critically examine legal and practical understandings of resocialisation, reflecting on this approach’s ability to account also for non-German citizens as well as offenders of uncertain residence status.

Required subject-specific or methodological skills: Doctoral students in this RA are expected to have experience in Legal Anthropology or Political Anthropology, Criminology or Law, and should be trained in qualitative methods (interviews, participant observation, document analysis), quantitative and/or legal doctrine-related methods.

Supervisor/ contact: Prof. Dr. Friederike Faust, Institute of Cultural Anthropology/ European Ethnology (friederike.faust@uni-goettingen.de); Prof. Dr. Alexander Baur, Chair of Criminal Law and Criminology (alexander.baur@jura.uni-goettingen.de)