https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/R_MigCoUpon successful completion of the course, the student will: A) Subject-specific - understand and be able to explain various ways in which States regulate the entry, stay and exit of migrants - be able to analyse how the domestic regulation of migration interacts with international and EU law - have basic knowledge of legal meaning and significance of core (legal) concepts, such as popular sovereignty, democracy and the principle of good governance; federalism, the unitary state and decentralization, criteria for criminalization, the principle of culpability, fair trial rights and standards of proof B) Academic learning outcomes - be able to critically reflect on the effects of migration control measures on individuals and on societies - be able to assess migration control measures from different legal perspectives (administrative vs criminal law; International vs national law) C) Social and communication learning outcomes - be able to analyze, set up and present a written legal argument in a specific case - be able to set up a legal argument and plead in a court setting - be able to peer review a legal argument D) Study skills - be able to correctly reference legal sources - be able to read judgmentsThe course “Migration Law and the Nation State” is the second of two courses with a particular focus on migration law. It adopts a “local” perspective and explores how governments seek to control migration at the national level through regulating the entry, stay and exit of migrants. Through this lens, students are introduced to a number of concepts of constitutional and administrative law, in particular aspects of (popular) sovereignty, democracy and the rule of law and principles of good governance. Since for EU member states, the “local” approach to regulating migration is heavily governed by the EU, students will also learn about concepts of EU law, such as the legal basis of the EU, and sources and effects of EU law on national law. Moreover, migration control at the national level also intersects with criminal law. Students will learn about relevant concepts of criminal law, eg criteria for criminalization, fair trial rights and detention standards. In addition, the course develops the students’ skills to reflect on the effects of migration control and policies – both on individuals and on societies. It addresses choices states can and do make for steering behaviour and the impact of these choices on both migrants and the society they live in, the limits to the State’s ability to control, and the consequences States attach to failed control. During two moot court sessions, students discuss the position of migrants during the asylum procedure and the procedure for the return of illegally staying migrants. Throughout, the course invites students to compare and contrast situations from the perspective of different legal fields (eg administrative law and criminal law, national and international law).The course consists of synchronous elements (lectures and seminars) and asynchronous elements (recorded knowledge clips and other assigned material; assignments). The lectures and seminars will interactively engage with the assigned material. It is therefore important that students prepare the sessions by engaging with the material relevant to that week’s topic. For lectures, students may be asked to complete a short assignment which can take different forms (annotate a text, make a mind map, provide a summary, create a multiple choice test etc) based on the prescribed material. In the workshops, students will apply the knowledge they acquired by working on concrete cases and plead their case at a moot court session.The course will be assessed on the basis of two graded assignments: A written examA written legal argumentIn addition, students need to satisfactorily complete:weekly preparatory assignments peer feedback on another student’s written legal argument pleading a case in a moot court session