Transnationale Herbstschule „Neo-securitization of Borders: A Threat to European Values?“

This Autumn School offers you the opportunity to:

• Explore and gain in-depth knowledge on one of the most pressing challenges facing Europe today.
• Engage with leading scholars and experts from five European partner universities.
• Collaborate with students from diverse disciplinary and cultural backgrounds.
• Present collaborative research in an international academic setting.
• Develop analytical, critical thinking, intercultural communication, and teamwork skills.

• Networking opportunities with students and academics from across Europe.
• Keynote lectures by leading scholars from the five partner universities.
• Interactive workshops and a World Café.
• Collaborative transnational working groups.
• Student presentations of working group projects.
• Roundtable discussion on Europe’s Borders and Europe’s Values.
• Study visit to Freiburg.

• Explain key concepts related to border securitization and European integration.
• Critically analyse contemporary European border, migration, and asylum policies.
• Assess the relationship between security, mobility, democracy, and European values.
• Evaluate how migration, geopolitics, technology, and public discourse shape border governance.
• Work effectively in an international and interdisciplinary environment.

This working group examines the relationship between European border governance and the values underpinning the European Union, including human dignity, human rights, solidarity, democracy, and freedom of movement. Students will critically explore how the neo-securitization of borders challenges, reshapes, or reinforces these principles and reflect on the balance between security imperatives and the EU’s normative commitments.

Possible topics: European values at the border; values in times of crisis tested, renegotiated, or, in some cases, suspended; human dignity and border governance; solidarity and responsibility-sharing; the rule of law at Europe’s borders.

This working group addresses how shifting international power dynamics and regional instability drive the reshaping of Europe’s borders. Drawing on recent academic literature regarding, for example, the weaponization of human mobility and the inherent unsettledness of borderlands, students will analyze the structural tension between implementing strict security-driven policies and preserving foundational European values like human rights and freedom of movement.

Possible topics: Geopolitical tensions and the structural rebordering of Europe’s external boundaries, the strategic weaponization of migration and hybrid security risks at national frontiers, territorial unsettledness and the resurgence of revisionist border narratives, the institutional friction between state sovereignty and supranational border management.

For decades, European integration has been associated with the gradual removal of internal border controls, freedom of movement, and the creation of the Schengen Area. Today, however, Europe is witnessing a process of neo-securitization in which borders are re-emerging in new forms. This working group examines how changing migration and asylum policies, reinforced external border management, the externalisation of migration control, and digital border technologies are reshaping European border governance. Students will critically assess how these developments affect the balance between security imperatives and the European values that underpin the European Union.

Possible topics: How and why is migration increasingly framed as a security issue? What are the consequences of presenting migrants and asylum seekers through the lens of risk, threat, or crisis?The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum — How are new screening and border procedures, accelerated asylum processes, and evolving return mechanisms reshaping access to protection and fundamental rights in the European Union?The externalisation of European borders — How is migration control increasingly extended beyond EU territory through cooperation with third countries?

This working group examines the increasing use of physical barriers, surveillance technologies, biometric systems, and digital data in contemporary border governance. Students will critically assess how these security measures contribute to the neo-securitization of borders and reshape the balance between security imperatives and European values, including human rights, solidarity, and freedom of movement.

Possible topics: Border walls and physical infrastructure; digital and biometric borders; technology, security, and fundamental rights.

Border governance is shaped not only through legal and institutional measures but also through political, media, and public discourses. This working group examines how migration is constructed as a security issue and how narratives of risk, identity, and belonging contribute to the neo-securitization of borders. Students will explore how these discourses influence policymaking, public opinion, and debates on European values.

Possible topics: Political and media discourses on migration and border security; narratives of risk, threat, and protection; misinformation, and migration narratives; European values in public debates on migration and securitization of borders.