Students will be introduced to the fundamental concepts underpinning today's European migration and refugee policies. Parallel to the development of the European welfare state in the decades following the Second World War, states constructed public policy meant to regulate immigration. National models differed in how citizenship was defined, and in their method and level of state intervention towards those ends. Understanding respective migration policy developments is crucial for understanding how states govern their membership (sovereignty) and its national cohesion (integration). In addition, students will consider other variables that condition contemporary migration and refugee policies. Although the state continues to play the most important functions in framing and implementing these policies, transnational political and economic forces have transformed the role of the nation-state. These changes have created conditions that encroach on the state's regulatory role and its autonomy, and shifted policy-making to the European Union within broader frameworks enshrined in international law. Students will look at how these supranational frameworks play into the policy mix. These provide the basis for understanding the current state of the social contract in Europe. Finally, given the historical magnitude of the events currently unfolding in Europe and whenever appropriate, the course will strive to relate to the 2015 - 2016 migrant and refugee crisis. Throughout the course, academic texts, grey literature and primary sources will therefore be used to critically analyze Europe's current migration and refugee policies.