240125 VO VM3 / VM6 - Borders and development: concepts, practices, struggles (2023S)

CONTENTS
The course aims at exploring the relations between borders and development through different analytical lenses. Whether we look at transnational migratory movements and security restrictions, neoliberal globalisation and financial crises, citizenship practices and sovereign claims, humanitarian interventions and geopolitical conflicts, borders represent not only privileged points of observation for a critical analysis of contemporary social and developmental processes, but also starting points of social change.
The course is divided into three sections. The first section will provide a brief overview of the different conceptualisations of borders, with particular emphasis on their entanglement with issues and practices of development. By framing the initial lessons around one key question – what borders are – this section will investigate the different approaches of borders, reflecting on their contributions and limitations in grasping other issues such as migration, mobilities and development. Complementary for our theoretical understanding of borders is a practical, empirical view over borders, i.e., where borders are located. By exploring this other key question in border studies, the first section will eventually examine more closely issues of sovereignty, national development, and globalisation, as well as processes of de- and re-bordering associated with them.
The second section will explore the multiple functions of borders, their degree of openness and closure, and their implications on movements and development processes. While borders acquire relevance and visibility in the management of migration movements and as providers of (real or imagined) security, they also have a less visible yet fundamental role to regulate flows of goods and capital, enhance (or obstruct) development policies and practices, and enable (or hinder) countries and people to improve their socio-economic conditions. By looking at the functional aspect of borders, this section will therefore critically analyse the multiple interrelations between border(ing) and development, taking into consideration practical implementations in different contexts.
The last section will assess micro-level, grounded repercussions of bordering practices, focusing on the power, racial, and gendered boundaries of in- and exclusion that are continuously redrawn across space and that differentially affect people and policies. It will explore the multiplicity of practices that challenge or reconfigure borders, from the myriad of – more or less legal – interconnections that happen everyday across borders to the wide variety of social movements that transgress national borders (such as the No Global movement or the more recent environmentalist and feminist struggles). By looking at the different cross-border practices and movements, the course will eventually discuss the feasibility and desirability of the idea of open borders, with particular focus on its repercussions on global inequalities, socio-economic development, and migratory flows.

OBJECTIVES:
- To introduce students to different conceptualisations and current debates on borders;
- To provide a framework for a critical understanding of the theoretical and practical relationships between borders and development;
- To encourage in-depth reflections on the multiplicity of ways borders operate throughout our societies, generating inequalities, differences, and conflicts at different levels

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Understand and distinguish between different conceptualisation and approaches to the study of borders;
- Demonstrate familiarity with different theoretical and practical issues on borders;
- Critically assess how borders relate to contemporary social processes;
- Understand the implications of, and interrelations between, borders and development;
- Critically discuss specific topics and engage in current debates.