Published - This fall, we’re excited to kick off the semester by welcoming new faculty members to campus who bring their unique perspectives to the SIS community. Among our new faculty members is Nicholas Micinski, joining the Department of Peace, Human Rights, and Cultural Relations (PHRCR). He previously taught at the University of Maine and was a postdoctoral fellow at Université Laval and Boston University. Read on to learn more about Micinski’s research interests and what he’s looking forward to about joining the SIS community!

What are your main research areas?

My research looks at power within international migration: who decides who gets to move across borders? How do international law and international organizations influence these migration policies? And who pays for it all? This means my research often explores questions about the global governance of migration, the political economy of aid and development, and the politics of climate displacement at the local and global levels.

I have written three books on different aspects of migration governance. In UN Global Compacts: Governing Migrants and Refugees (Routledge, 2021), I document how states and the UN negotiated the most recent comprehensive international agreements on migration and refugees—including the champions, spoilers, and dissenters in the process. The book places the 2018 compacts within their historical context of three wider shifts in global governance from hard to soft law, from rights to aid, and from Cold War politics to nationalism.

In my second book, Delegating Responsibility: International Cooperation on Migration in the European Union (University of Michigan Press, 2022), I explore the politics of who is responsible for refugees in Europe based on my fieldwork during the 2015 to 2017 migration “crisis.” Here, I show that the EU delegated responsibility to the UN to run most of the refugee camps in Greece because of lack of state capacity and lack of political will. The book raises questions about the uneven nature of sovereignty both within states and within the EU.

In my third book, Aiding Autocrats: Migration Management, Governance and Repression in Africa (co-authored with Kelsey Norman, forthcoming Cambridge University Press), we show how foreign aid is used to influence migration policies in the Global South. While the aid does not prevent migration, it does support authoritarian regimes and facilitate repression, at the expense of the rights of both migrants and citizens. This book pairs a new global dataset on migration management aid from 2002 to 2022 with fieldwork and case studies in Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt.

You were working in the NGO sector in London for some time before entering academia. Can you tell us more about your work in that sector and what inspired you to switch to academia?

I worked at Migrants Organise, a community organizing NGO that worked for the rights of migrants and refugees in the UK. The NGO provides direct services to migrants in need and organized grassroots campaigns to influence local and national policies. I learned firsthand how government policies impact people and communities and how bureaucracies are built to serve government interests, not individuals. I also learned about the power of community organizing, protest, and strategic movement building, especially between citizens and noncitizens.

I decided to go into academia because I wanted to understand and research the big picture of migration governance. I felt the impact of failed migration policies on the ground and wanted to understand where those policy failures came from. I also learned in grad school that I love teaching and want to contribute to our world in the classroom.

What class(es) are you teaching at SIS this year? Why are these topics important for SIS students to study?

I am teaching two classes this fall: Global Migration (SISU-106) and Peace, Global Security, and Conflict Resolution (SISU-201). As you can see, I care deeply about migration and believe it is an important part of our lives, communities, and politics. The course is both an introduction to global migration, including the historical trends, institutions, and politics, all in relation to current events.

Similarly, SISU-201 explores the causes of war and displacement and how states and international organizations respond to these challenges. I hope SIS students will engage with topics as we learn about our place in the world, how the world is changing, and what must be done.

What are you looking forward to most about joining the SIS community?

I am eager to join American University because of the SIS scholars and students who are deeply engaged in the most challenging issues in our world. I have been inspired by my students in our first week of classes and look forward to learning and growing together.