PhD Student: Michal Tudorowski

Details

Thesis Title: Between East and West? The Problem of ‘Transit’ with Reference to Chechen Refugees in Poland

Start Year: 2010

Supervisors

Research Topic

The PhD focuses on the nature and meaning of ‘transit’ in migration studies. It goes beyond the scope of migration literature which approaches ‘transitness’ by looking at a set of interviewing determinants between an origin and destination of migration. The research argues that ‘transitness’ can be better captured from the perspective of state-level developments and the dynamics of multi-level policy making and governance generating (and shaping) factors leading to transit status. The analysis aims to identify the institutional and conceptual factors in the Polish migration system and the dynamic relationships between them that construct an environment intended to minimise the probability of refugees treating Poland as destination country by exerting pressure on them to move west. The thesis centres on the following research questions: What are the political, economic and social drivers of Poland’s ‘transitness’? What are the political, economic and social drivers of Chechen migration to Poland? What is the state’s response to transit migration? Does the EU, by introducing a common migration and asylum policy and restricting entry to the Union, shapes Poland’s transit country status construction?

Central to these questions is Poland’s membership of the EU. It is embedded in the EU institutional framework, so Poland’s migration policy must be understood within the broader constellation of national (member states) and supranational (European Commission, European Parliament) actors.

The thesis defines the features of ‘transitness’ drawing on elements from rational choice institutionalism and constructivist institutionalism. The institutional context of Polish migration policy is captured by rational choice institutionalism. The social construction of the migration environment, which provides migration policy actors with understandings of their interests and meanings of ‘transitness’, is examined through a broadly constructivist approach. To reconcile competing dynamics of rationalist and constructivist positions, the analysis employs the middle-range approach theory.

Research interests: Politics of Migration; Polish Migration System; EU Immigration and Asylum Policy; EU Politics; Protection of Refugees.

Teaching

POL111: The Politics of Globalisation (Autumn 2011)

Research Training Group Membership

Participation and Governance
EU Discussion Group

Professional Affiliations

Political Studies Association (PSA)
University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES)
European Union Studies Association (EUSA)

Visiting Posts

Visiting Researcher in the Centre of Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), University of Oxford (April-June 2012)

Awards

Department of Politics Scholarship to do the fieldwork in Poland (awarded 2012)
University of Sheffield Scholarship to do PhD in the Department of Politics (awarded 2010)
Ferszt-Buynoski Scholarship (Institute of International Education, European Office, Budapest) to conduct research on refugee protection at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg (2009)
European Commission Scholarship to study Politics at the Catholic University of Leuven (2008)
European Commission Scholarship to study Politics at the University of Copenhagen (2007)

Other Work

Department of Legalisation of Stay, Office for Foreigners, Warsaw, Poland (Junior Officer) (2010)
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Warsaw, Poland (Research Intern) (2009-2010)
International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France (Research Intern) (2009)

Previous Education

MA in International Relations (Distinction), University of Warsaw (2010)