Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: No Exam

From legal battles over the US-Mexico border to heated debates about the citizenship oath in Canada, to recurring refugee crises in Europe and the rising global challenges of climate migration, the movement of people across borders has been high on the agenda. Moving beyond the traditional country-specific lens, this course explores major developments in citizenship and migration law and policy from a comparative perspective. We will survey key debates and topics such as admission requirements, steps to naturalization, the rights of persons who are undocumented, civic integration tests, claims for cultural accommodation, barriers to the acquisition of citizenship, visa-waiver programs, dual nationality, regional free movement agreements, responses to climate-induced mobility, and the surge of populist nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment. Throughout the course, we will place these developments in a broader theoretical, comparative, and international context. Emphasis will be given to the growing influence of bilateral and multilateral instruments in regulating mobility, emerging patterns of policy diffusion and inter-jurisdictional learning, and the turn to AI in immigration decision-making. Highlighting the dynamic interaction between countries of origin, transit, and destination, we will consider the implications of these developments on the meaning of citizenship, the rights of migrants, and the future of borders.