About

I am Professor (she/they) of Political Science and Founding Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in liberal democracies. I am particularly interested in the nexus between international migration and the politics of policy making and implementation, coercive state power and migrant resistance; legal precarity; and the intersection of migration, settler colonialism, and Indigeneity.

My latest book The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States was published in 2021 with Cambridge University Press as part of the Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics series. It was recognized with the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize (co-winner) by the International Political Science Association.  My first book States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2009) examined the comparative politics and implementation of deportation. My work has also appeared in journals such as World Politics (winner of the APSA Migration & Citizenship Section’s best article award), Comparative Political Studies, Politics & Society, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, West European Politics, Government and Opposition, and International Migration. My research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Social Science Research Council, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. I serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and served as Co-President of the American Political Science Association’s Migration and Citizenship Section from 2019-21.

I was born and raised in Germany before spending many years living, working, and studying in Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. I live on the beautiful, shared territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) (Vancouver) with my spouse Alan Jacobs and our teenage daughter. I hold Canadian and German citizenship. Before becoming a political scientist, I trained in social work and worked as a community worker. I love spending time kayaking, cross-country skiing, reading, cooking, and playing the piano. I used to be an avid woodworker and like to think that one day I will start making furniture again.


Teaching


Research

Belonging in Unceded Territory 

(2020-2024) ($200,000)

This research collaboration of the Centre for Migration Studies, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, Immigrant Services Society of BC and the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC is funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (#890-2019-0100).

For details, check out our project page.

Immigration Bureaucracies in an Era of Anti-Immigration Populism

(2021-2026) ($284,864)

This research collaboration with Mireille Paquet (Concordia University) is funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant (#435-2021-0316).

Objectives

The project examines how comparatively powerful bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom (UK) have navigated policymaking in contexts that have been marked by anti-immigration populism since the early 2000s. In particular, this comparative study will document and compare how bureaucratic organizations responsible for immigration define and respond to the legitimacy challenges stemming from anti-immigration populism. The project pursues three objectives:

1) provide an analytical account of how anti-immigration populism has impacted bureaucratic organizations responsible for immigration in Canada, Australia, and the UK since 2000

2) contribute to theories of immigration policymaking by developing a richer understanding of the work of immigration bureaucracies

3) develop new insights into how bureaucracies can respond to the challenges associated with populism in countries with Westminster systems where the executive dominates policymaking.

Context

Over the past two decades, populism has swept across the Global North, questioning the legitimacy of policymaking by established elites and framing immigrants as a threat to national identity and economic welfare. This project explores the impact of anti-immigration populism on bureaucratic organizations. The rise of anti-immigration populism challenges the legitimacy of bureaucracies responsible for immigration. It disturbs traditional immigration policymaking, the agreed upon goals of national immigration programs, and official state discourse on immigration. Yet, while much has been written on the impact of populism on parties and elected officials, its impact on bureaucratic organizations, and immigration bureaucracies more specifically, remains poorly understood. Indeed, the rich body of research on anti-immigration populism has thus far neglected to explore how bureaucratic organizations have navigated this changing policymaking context.


Publications

Google Scholar Profile

Books and Special Issues

Ellermann, Antje. 2021. The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. Co-winner of the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize, International Political Science Association. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, Foreign Affairs

Ellermann, Antje (Ed.). 2020. Special Issue on “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship.”  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2601

Ellermann, Antje. 2009. States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, American Journal of Sociology, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, German Studies Review; featured in “Campaign for the American Reader”

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Schinnerl, Sandra and Antje Ellermann. 2023. “The Education-Immigration Nexus: Situating Canadian Higher Education as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment.” Journal of International Migration & Integration

Ellermann, Antje. 2022. “Commentary: Canadian Exceptionalism.” In: James F. Hollifield et al. (eds.). Controlling Immigration: A Comparative Perspective (4th ed.). Stanford University Press, 168-174

Ellermann, Antje and Ben O’Heran. 2021. “Unsettling Migration Studies: Indigeneity and Immigration in Settler Colonial States.” In: Catherine Dauvergne (ed.) Research Handbook on the Law and Politics of Migration. Edward Elgar, 21-34

Ellermann, Antje and Yana Gorkokhovskaia. 2020. “The Impermanence of Permanence: The Rise of Probationary Immigration in Canada,” International Migration, 58: 45-60

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship,”Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2479

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Human-capital Citizenship and the Changing Logic of Immigrant Admissions,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2515-2532

Ellermann, Antje. 2019. “50 Years of Canadian Immigration Policy.” In Peter John Loewen, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Andrew Potter, and Sophie Borwein (eds.), Canada and Its Centennial and Sesquicentennial: Transformative Policy Then and Now, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Ellermann, Antje and Agustín Goenaga. 2019. “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States,” Politics & Society, 47(1), 87-116

Ellermann, Antje. 2015. “Do Policy Legacies Matter? Past and Present Guest Worker Recruitment in Germany.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(8), 1235-1253

Ellermann, Antje. 2014. “The Rule of Law and the Right to Stay: The Moral Claims of Undocumented Migrants.” Politics & Society, 42(3), 293-308

Ellermann, Antje. 2013. “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration? Self-Limited Sovereignty and Guest Worker Recruitment in Switzerland and Germany.” World Politics, 65(3), 491-538. Winner of the APSA Prize for Best Article in Migration and Citizenship

Ellermann, Antje. 2012. “Studying Migration Governance from the Bottom-Up.” With Matthew Gravelle and Catherine Dauvergne. In: The Social, Political, and Historical Contours of Deportation. Anderson, Bridget, Matthew Gibney & Emanuela Paoletti (eds.). New York: Springer

Ellermann, Antje. 2010. “Undocumented Migrants and Resistance in the Liberal State.” Politics & Society, 38(3), 408-429

Ellermann, Antje. 2008. “The Limits of Unilateral Migration Control: Deportation and Interstate Cooperation.” Government and Opposition, 43(2), 168-189

Ellermann, Antje. 2006. “Street-level Democracy? How Immigration Bureaucrats Manage Public Opposition.” West European Politics, 29(2), 287-303. Reprinted in Immigration Policy in Europe: The Politics of Control (2007), Virginie Guiraudon and Gallya Lahav (eds.), New York: Routledge, 93-109

Ellermann, Antje. 2005. “Coercive Capacity and the Politics of Implementation: Deportation in Germany and the United States.” Comparative Political Studies, 38(10), 1219-1244

Book Reviews

Review of “The Political Economy of Managed Migration: Nonstate Actors, Europeanization, and the Politics of Designing Migration Policies,” Georg Menz. 2010. Comparative Political Studies, 43, 156-160

Review of “Becoming Multicultural: Immigration and the Politics of Membership in Canada and Germany,” Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos. 2017 Canadian Journal of Political Science, 50(2), 639-641

Commentary

New World Disorder.” Fall/Winter 2020. Alumni UBC – TREK: The Migration Issue. 76:1, 5-7

With Agustín Goenaga. “Citizens in the West Should Care about Discriminatory Immigration Policies.” The Conversation, February 11, 2019. Reprinted in: National Post, February 12, 2019; LAWNOW, Vol. 43-4: Canadian Immigration, March 5, 2019

Fairness Lost in Immigration Reform.” The Vancouver Sun, January 24, 2013

Newsletters

Founding Editor, American Political Science Association Migration and Citizenship Newsletter, 2012-14 (4 issues)

Spring 2013. “Explaining Immigration Policy,” Polity (UBC Political Science Newsletter)

Work-in-progress

“The Education-Immigration Nexus: The Role of Universities as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment and Settlement” (with Sandra Schinnerl). Under review at Journal of International Migration and Integration

“Belonging in Unceded Territory: Immigration and Settler Identity in Vancouver” (with Ancel Zhu and Jessica Seegerts) (manuscript in progress)

“Immigration Policy and Bureaucratic Institutions: Beyond Implementation” (with Mireille Paquet and Claudia Serrano) (manuscript in progress)


Awards

2022. Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize. Research Committee on the Structure of Governance, International Political Science Association. Co-winner, Best Book on Comparative Administration or Public Policy (for The Comparative Politics of Immigration)

2016. Best Paper Award (with Agustín Goenaga), Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States”)

2014. Best Article Award, Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration,” World Politics)

2006. Early Career Scholar, UBC Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies


Graduate Supervision

I am interested in working with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with a research focus on migration, belonging, and citizenship.

Cindy Robin, Claudia Serrano, Ibukun Kayode, Salta Zhumatova

CURRENT SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Lisa Brunner, Postdoctoral Fellow

Sandra Schinnerl, Postdoctoral Fellow

PhD Supervisor

Claudia Serrano, “Migration Control Practices and Human Right Violations: The US and Australia in Comparison”

Cindy Robin, “The Political Economy of Diaspora Engagement as a Development Tool: The Case of Anglo-Caribbean Small Island Developing States”

Ibukun Kayode, “Experiences of Black Anglophone African Immigrant Women in Accessing Primary Healthcare in Canada” (Interdisciplinary Studies, Co-Supervisor)

PhD Committee Member

Denali Youngwolfe, “The Âhkameyihtamowin Project (We Rise): Mapping Indigenous Assurgency across Turtle Island”

Addye Susnick, “Trans Communities, Trans Joy, and Prefigurative Politics”

Nick Phin, “Cause or Effect? How Far-Right Messaging Influences Voter Attitudes”

Paolo Sosa-Villagarcia, “Why Does the Radical Right Become Mainstream? Peru in Comparative Perspective”

Serban Dragulin (Philosophy), “Science and Political Legitimacy”

MA Supervisor

Thelma Muñoz Barajas

Sofia Ngieng, “Locating Indigeneity in Migration Studies”

 

COMPLETED SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Kelsey Norman, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow

Jonathan Hall, Assistant Professor, University of Uppsala

PhD Supervisor

Camille Desmares, “Discrimination in Post-World War II Naturalization Policy: France and Switzerland” (2023)

Salta Zhumatova, “Mainstreaming the Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in the EU: Policy Framework and Policy Impact” (2022)

Sandra Schinnerl, (Interdisciplinary Studies), “The Influence of Higher Education on Immigration Policy in Canada” (2021, Co-supervisor)

Conrad King,“The Politics of Subsystems: Agenda Management and Policy Change in Education” (2018)

Stewart Prest, “Civil Peace, Political Conflict: Understanding Negative Cases of Civil War” (2015, Co-supervisor)

PhD Committee Member

Laura Cleton (University of Antwerp), “Deporting Children. Policy Framing, Legitimation and Intersectional Boundary Work” (2022)

Daniel Westlake, “Multiculturalism, Parties, and Voter Behaviour: Explaining the Role of Political Parties in the Development of Multiculturalism Policies” (2017)

Grace Lore, “Women in Politics: Descriptive and Substantive Representation and the Moderating Effect of Political Institutions”(2016)

Jan Boesten, “Between the Rule of Law and Democratic Security: Judicial, Constituent, and State Power in Columbia” (2015)

Agustín Goenaga Orrego, “The Social Origins of State Capacity: Civil Society, Political Order and Public Goods in France (1789-1970) and Mexico (1810-1970)” (2015)

Charles Breton, “Incorporation Policies, Identity, and Relationships between Host Societies and Immigrants” (2015)

Konrad Kalicki, “Acting Like a State: The Politics of Foreign Labour Admission in Japan and Taiwan”(2015)

Erin Penner, “The Attitudinal Mosaic: Forming Attitudes about Multiculturalism, Immigration, and Ethnic Diversity in Canada” (2013)

John Ferguson (Law), “International Human Trafficking in Canada: Why So Few Prosecutions?” (2012)

Joe Sulmona (Geography), “Trade with Security: How Canada and the Netherlands Relocated State Frontiers Through Civilian Aviation Networks” (2012)

MA Supervisor

Lee Barrett-Lennard, “Climate Change and the Shifting Cost-Benefit Calculus of Development in the Russian Far East and High Arctic” (2023)

Hanne Schaefer, “Memory Politics and Right-Wing Anti-Immigration Agendas in Contemporary Germany” (2023)

Chandima Silva (SCARP, main supervisor Leonora Angeles), “Moving beyond the Colonial Politics of Recognition by Transcultural Placemaking” (2023)

Melika Khajeh Hosseiny, “Reconceptualizing the Politics of Integration: Tactical Cosmopolitanism among Iranian Immigrants in Los Angeles” (2022)

Dhriti Mehta: “The Construction of the Emigrant-Unfriendly Liberal Democracy: The Case of India” (2022)

Sarah Despatie: “Secularism or Nationalism? Partisan Differences in Quebec’s Bill 21 Debate” (2021)

Renauld Chicoine-McKenzie, “Photographic Frames of Immigration in a Polarized Media Environment” (2021)

Isabella Picui, “Diversity and Inequality? An Analysis of Multicultural Policies and Immigrant Economic Integration in Europe” (2019)

Miaofeng Zhang, “The Hukou System and Sociopolitical Stability in China” (2015)

Tania Sawicki Mead, “Between Care and Control: The Uses and Abuses of Humanitarianism in Contemporary Migration Debates” (2015)

Forrest Barnum, “Crossnational Divergence in Post-OPEC Embargo Energy Policy in Germany and the United States” (2012)

Margery Pazdor (Institute for European Studies), “Female Genital Mutilation in France and the UK: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Policy Formation” (2009)

Lisa Stark, “Do Muslims Make the Difference? Explaining Within Country Variation on Mosque-Building Policies in Western Europe” (2007)


Additional Description

Download my most recent graduate syllabus for POLI 516c / PPGA 591H “Migration and Citizenship,”  Ellermann, graduate syllabus

Download my most recent undergraduate syllabus for POli328c “The Comparative Politics of Immigration,” Ellermann, undergraduate syllabus



About

I am Professor (she/they) of Political Science and Founding Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in liberal democracies. I am particularly interested in the nexus between international migration and the politics of policy making and implementation, coercive state power and migrant resistance; legal precarity; and the intersection of migration, settler colonialism, and Indigeneity.

My latest book The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States was published in 2021 with Cambridge University Press as part of the Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics series. It was recognized with the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize (co-winner) by the International Political Science Association.  My first book States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2009) examined the comparative politics and implementation of deportation. My work has also appeared in journals such as World Politics (winner of the APSA Migration & Citizenship Section’s best article award), Comparative Political Studies, Politics & Society, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, West European Politics, Government and Opposition, and International Migration. My research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Social Science Research Council, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. I serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and served as Co-President of the American Political Science Association’s Migration and Citizenship Section from 2019-21.

I was born and raised in Germany before spending many years living, working, and studying in Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. I live on the beautiful, shared territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) (Vancouver) with my spouse Alan Jacobs and our teenage daughter. I hold Canadian and German citizenship. Before becoming a political scientist, I trained in social work and worked as a community worker. I love spending time kayaking, cross-country skiing, reading, cooking, and playing the piano. I used to be an avid woodworker and like to think that one day I will start making furniture again.


Teaching


Research

Belonging in Unceded Territory 

(2020-2024) ($200,000)

This research collaboration of the Centre for Migration Studies, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, Immigrant Services Society of BC and the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC is funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (#890-2019-0100).

For details, check out our project page.

Immigration Bureaucracies in an Era of Anti-Immigration Populism

(2021-2026) ($284,864)

This research collaboration with Mireille Paquet (Concordia University) is funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant (#435-2021-0316).

Objectives

The project examines how comparatively powerful bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom (UK) have navigated policymaking in contexts that have been marked by anti-immigration populism since the early 2000s. In particular, this comparative study will document and compare how bureaucratic organizations responsible for immigration define and respond to the legitimacy challenges stemming from anti-immigration populism. The project pursues three objectives:

1) provide an analytical account of how anti-immigration populism has impacted bureaucratic organizations responsible for immigration in Canada, Australia, and the UK since 2000

2) contribute to theories of immigration policymaking by developing a richer understanding of the work of immigration bureaucracies

3) develop new insights into how bureaucracies can respond to the challenges associated with populism in countries with Westminster systems where the executive dominates policymaking.

Context

Over the past two decades, populism has swept across the Global North, questioning the legitimacy of policymaking by established elites and framing immigrants as a threat to national identity and economic welfare. This project explores the impact of anti-immigration populism on bureaucratic organizations. The rise of anti-immigration populism challenges the legitimacy of bureaucracies responsible for immigration. It disturbs traditional immigration policymaking, the agreed upon goals of national immigration programs, and official state discourse on immigration. Yet, while much has been written on the impact of populism on parties and elected officials, its impact on bureaucratic organizations, and immigration bureaucracies more specifically, remains poorly understood. Indeed, the rich body of research on anti-immigration populism has thus far neglected to explore how bureaucratic organizations have navigated this changing policymaking context.


Publications

Google Scholar Profile

Books and Special Issues

Ellermann, Antje. 2021. The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. Co-winner of the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize, International Political Science Association. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, Foreign Affairs

Ellermann, Antje (Ed.). 2020. Special Issue on “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship.”  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2601

Ellermann, Antje. 2009. States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, American Journal of Sociology, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, German Studies Review; featured in “Campaign for the American Reader”

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Schinnerl, Sandra and Antje Ellermann. 2023. “The Education-Immigration Nexus: Situating Canadian Higher Education as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment.” Journal of International Migration & Integration

Ellermann, Antje. 2022. “Commentary: Canadian Exceptionalism.” In: James F. Hollifield et al. (eds.). Controlling Immigration: A Comparative Perspective (4th ed.). Stanford University Press, 168-174

Ellermann, Antje and Ben O’Heran. 2021. “Unsettling Migration Studies: Indigeneity and Immigration in Settler Colonial States.” In: Catherine Dauvergne (ed.) Research Handbook on the Law and Politics of Migration. Edward Elgar, 21-34

Ellermann, Antje and Yana Gorkokhovskaia. 2020. “The Impermanence of Permanence: The Rise of Probationary Immigration in Canada,” International Migration, 58: 45-60

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship,”Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2479

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Human-capital Citizenship and the Changing Logic of Immigrant Admissions,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2515-2532

Ellermann, Antje. 2019. “50 Years of Canadian Immigration Policy.” In Peter John Loewen, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Andrew Potter, and Sophie Borwein (eds.), Canada and Its Centennial and Sesquicentennial: Transformative Policy Then and Now, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Ellermann, Antje and Agustín Goenaga. 2019. “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States,” Politics & Society, 47(1), 87-116

Ellermann, Antje. 2015. “Do Policy Legacies Matter? Past and Present Guest Worker Recruitment in Germany.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(8), 1235-1253

Ellermann, Antje. 2014. “The Rule of Law and the Right to Stay: The Moral Claims of Undocumented Migrants.” Politics & Society, 42(3), 293-308

Ellermann, Antje. 2013. “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration? Self-Limited Sovereignty and Guest Worker Recruitment in Switzerland and Germany.” World Politics, 65(3), 491-538. Winner of the APSA Prize for Best Article in Migration and Citizenship

Ellermann, Antje. 2012. “Studying Migration Governance from the Bottom-Up.” With Matthew Gravelle and Catherine Dauvergne. In: The Social, Political, and Historical Contours of Deportation. Anderson, Bridget, Matthew Gibney & Emanuela Paoletti (eds.). New York: Springer

Ellermann, Antje. 2010. “Undocumented Migrants and Resistance in the Liberal State.” Politics & Society, 38(3), 408-429

Ellermann, Antje. 2008. “The Limits of Unilateral Migration Control: Deportation and Interstate Cooperation.” Government and Opposition, 43(2), 168-189

Ellermann, Antje. 2006. “Street-level Democracy? How Immigration Bureaucrats Manage Public Opposition.” West European Politics, 29(2), 287-303. Reprinted in Immigration Policy in Europe: The Politics of Control (2007), Virginie Guiraudon and Gallya Lahav (eds.), New York: Routledge, 93-109

Ellermann, Antje. 2005. “Coercive Capacity and the Politics of Implementation: Deportation in Germany and the United States.” Comparative Political Studies, 38(10), 1219-1244

Book Reviews

Review of “The Political Economy of Managed Migration: Nonstate Actors, Europeanization, and the Politics of Designing Migration Policies,” Georg Menz. 2010. Comparative Political Studies, 43, 156-160

Review of “Becoming Multicultural: Immigration and the Politics of Membership in Canada and Germany,” Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos. 2017 Canadian Journal of Political Science, 50(2), 639-641

Commentary

New World Disorder.” Fall/Winter 2020. Alumni UBC – TREK: The Migration Issue. 76:1, 5-7

With Agustín Goenaga. “Citizens in the West Should Care about Discriminatory Immigration Policies.” The Conversation, February 11, 2019. Reprinted in: National Post, February 12, 2019; LAWNOW, Vol. 43-4: Canadian Immigration, March 5, 2019

Fairness Lost in Immigration Reform.” The Vancouver Sun, January 24, 2013

Newsletters

Founding Editor, American Political Science Association Migration and Citizenship Newsletter, 2012-14 (4 issues)

Spring 2013. “Explaining Immigration Policy,” Polity (UBC Political Science Newsletter)

Work-in-progress

“The Education-Immigration Nexus: The Role of Universities as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment and Settlement” (with Sandra Schinnerl). Under review at Journal of International Migration and Integration

“Belonging in Unceded Territory: Immigration and Settler Identity in Vancouver” (with Ancel Zhu and Jessica Seegerts) (manuscript in progress)

“Immigration Policy and Bureaucratic Institutions: Beyond Implementation” (with Mireille Paquet and Claudia Serrano) (manuscript in progress)


Awards

2022. Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize. Research Committee on the Structure of Governance, International Political Science Association. Co-winner, Best Book on Comparative Administration or Public Policy (for The Comparative Politics of Immigration)

2016. Best Paper Award (with Agustín Goenaga), Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States”)

2014. Best Article Award, Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration,” World Politics)

2006. Early Career Scholar, UBC Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies


Graduate Supervision

I am interested in working with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with a research focus on migration, belonging, and citizenship.

Cindy Robin, Claudia Serrano, Ibukun Kayode, Salta Zhumatova

CURRENT SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Lisa Brunner, Postdoctoral Fellow

Sandra Schinnerl, Postdoctoral Fellow

PhD Supervisor

Claudia Serrano, “Migration Control Practices and Human Right Violations: The US and Australia in Comparison”

Cindy Robin, “The Political Economy of Diaspora Engagement as a Development Tool: The Case of Anglo-Caribbean Small Island Developing States”

Ibukun Kayode, “Experiences of Black Anglophone African Immigrant Women in Accessing Primary Healthcare in Canada” (Interdisciplinary Studies, Co-Supervisor)

PhD Committee Member

Denali Youngwolfe, “The Âhkameyihtamowin Project (We Rise): Mapping Indigenous Assurgency across Turtle Island”

Addye Susnick, “Trans Communities, Trans Joy, and Prefigurative Politics”

Nick Phin, “Cause or Effect? How Far-Right Messaging Influences Voter Attitudes”

Paolo Sosa-Villagarcia, “Why Does the Radical Right Become Mainstream? Peru in Comparative Perspective”

Serban Dragulin (Philosophy), “Science and Political Legitimacy”

MA Supervisor

Thelma Muñoz Barajas

Sofia Ngieng, “Locating Indigeneity in Migration Studies”

 

COMPLETED SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Kelsey Norman, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow

Jonathan Hall, Assistant Professor, University of Uppsala

PhD Supervisor

Camille Desmares, “Discrimination in Post-World War II Naturalization Policy: France and Switzerland” (2023)

Salta Zhumatova, “Mainstreaming the Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in the EU: Policy Framework and Policy Impact” (2022)

Sandra Schinnerl, (Interdisciplinary Studies), “The Influence of Higher Education on Immigration Policy in Canada” (2021, Co-supervisor)

Conrad King,“The Politics of Subsystems: Agenda Management and Policy Change in Education” (2018)

Stewart Prest, “Civil Peace, Political Conflict: Understanding Negative Cases of Civil War” (2015, Co-supervisor)

PhD Committee Member

Laura Cleton (University of Antwerp), “Deporting Children. Policy Framing, Legitimation and Intersectional Boundary Work” (2022)

Daniel Westlake, “Multiculturalism, Parties, and Voter Behaviour: Explaining the Role of Political Parties in the Development of Multiculturalism Policies” (2017)

Grace Lore, “Women in Politics: Descriptive and Substantive Representation and the Moderating Effect of Political Institutions”(2016)

Jan Boesten, “Between the Rule of Law and Democratic Security: Judicial, Constituent, and State Power in Columbia” (2015)

Agustín Goenaga Orrego, “The Social Origins of State Capacity: Civil Society, Political Order and Public Goods in France (1789-1970) and Mexico (1810-1970)” (2015)

Charles Breton, “Incorporation Policies, Identity, and Relationships between Host Societies and Immigrants” (2015)

Konrad Kalicki, “Acting Like a State: The Politics of Foreign Labour Admission in Japan and Taiwan”(2015)

Erin Penner, “The Attitudinal Mosaic: Forming Attitudes about Multiculturalism, Immigration, and Ethnic Diversity in Canada” (2013)

John Ferguson (Law), “International Human Trafficking in Canada: Why So Few Prosecutions?” (2012)

Joe Sulmona (Geography), “Trade with Security: How Canada and the Netherlands Relocated State Frontiers Through Civilian Aviation Networks” (2012)

MA Supervisor

Lee Barrett-Lennard, “Climate Change and the Shifting Cost-Benefit Calculus of Development in the Russian Far East and High Arctic” (2023)

Hanne Schaefer, “Memory Politics and Right-Wing Anti-Immigration Agendas in Contemporary Germany” (2023)

Chandima Silva (SCARP, main supervisor Leonora Angeles), “Moving beyond the Colonial Politics of Recognition by Transcultural Placemaking” (2023)

Melika Khajeh Hosseiny, “Reconceptualizing the Politics of Integration: Tactical Cosmopolitanism among Iranian Immigrants in Los Angeles” (2022)

Dhriti Mehta: “The Construction of the Emigrant-Unfriendly Liberal Democracy: The Case of India” (2022)

Sarah Despatie: “Secularism or Nationalism? Partisan Differences in Quebec’s Bill 21 Debate” (2021)

Renauld Chicoine-McKenzie, “Photographic Frames of Immigration in a Polarized Media Environment” (2021)

Isabella Picui, “Diversity and Inequality? An Analysis of Multicultural Policies and Immigrant Economic Integration in Europe” (2019)

Miaofeng Zhang, “The Hukou System and Sociopolitical Stability in China” (2015)

Tania Sawicki Mead, “Between Care and Control: The Uses and Abuses of Humanitarianism in Contemporary Migration Debates” (2015)

Forrest Barnum, “Crossnational Divergence in Post-OPEC Embargo Energy Policy in Germany and the United States” (2012)

Margery Pazdor (Institute for European Studies), “Female Genital Mutilation in France and the UK: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Policy Formation” (2009)

Lisa Stark, “Do Muslims Make the Difference? Explaining Within Country Variation on Mosque-Building Policies in Western Europe” (2007)


Additional Description

Download my most recent graduate syllabus for POLI 516c / PPGA 591H “Migration and Citizenship,”  Ellermann, graduate syllabus

Download my most recent undergraduate syllabus for POli328c “The Comparative Politics of Immigration,” Ellermann, undergraduate syllabus


About keyboard_arrow_down

I am Professor (she/they) of Political Science and Founding Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in liberal democracies. I am particularly interested in the nexus between international migration and the politics of policy making and implementation, coercive state power and migrant resistance; legal precarity; and the intersection of migration, settler colonialism, and Indigeneity.

My latest book The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States was published in 2021 with Cambridge University Press as part of the Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics series. It was recognized with the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize (co-winner) by the International Political Science Association.  My first book States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2009) examined the comparative politics and implementation of deportation. My work has also appeared in journals such as World Politics (winner of the APSA Migration & Citizenship Section’s best article award), Comparative Political Studies, Politics & Society, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, West European Politics, Government and Opposition, and International Migration. My research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Social Science Research Council, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. I serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and served as Co-President of the American Political Science Association’s Migration and Citizenship Section from 2019-21.

I was born and raised in Germany before spending many years living, working, and studying in Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. I live on the beautiful, shared territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) (Vancouver) with my spouse Alan Jacobs and our teenage daughter. I hold Canadian and German citizenship. Before becoming a political scientist, I trained in social work and worked as a community worker. I love spending time kayaking, cross-country skiing, reading, cooking, and playing the piano. I used to be an avid woodworker and like to think that one day I will start making furniture again.

Teaching keyboard_arrow_down
Research keyboard_arrow_down

Belonging in Unceded Territory 

(2020-2024) ($200,000)

This research collaboration of the Centre for Migration Studies, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, Immigrant Services Society of BC and the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC is funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (#890-2019-0100).

For details, check out our project page.

Immigration Bureaucracies in an Era of Anti-Immigration Populism

(2021-2026) ($284,864)

This research collaboration with Mireille Paquet (Concordia University) is funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant (#435-2021-0316).

Objectives

The project examines how comparatively powerful bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom (UK) have navigated policymaking in contexts that have been marked by anti-immigration populism since the early 2000s. In particular, this comparative study will document and compare how bureaucratic organizations responsible for immigration define and respond to the legitimacy challenges stemming from anti-immigration populism. The project pursues three objectives:

1) provide an analytical account of how anti-immigration populism has impacted bureaucratic organizations responsible for immigration in Canada, Australia, and the UK since 2000

2) contribute to theories of immigration policymaking by developing a richer understanding of the work of immigration bureaucracies

3) develop new insights into how bureaucracies can respond to the challenges associated with populism in countries with Westminster systems where the executive dominates policymaking.

Context

Over the past two decades, populism has swept across the Global North, questioning the legitimacy of policymaking by established elites and framing immigrants as a threat to national identity and economic welfare. This project explores the impact of anti-immigration populism on bureaucratic organizations. The rise of anti-immigration populism challenges the legitimacy of bureaucracies responsible for immigration. It disturbs traditional immigration policymaking, the agreed upon goals of national immigration programs, and official state discourse on immigration. Yet, while much has been written on the impact of populism on parties and elected officials, its impact on bureaucratic organizations, and immigration bureaucracies more specifically, remains poorly understood. Indeed, the rich body of research on anti-immigration populism has thus far neglected to explore how bureaucratic organizations have navigated this changing policymaking context.

Publications keyboard_arrow_down

Google Scholar Profile

Books and Special Issues

Ellermann, Antje. 2021. The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. Co-winner of the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize, International Political Science Association. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, Foreign Affairs

Ellermann, Antje (Ed.). 2020. Special Issue on “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship.”  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2601

Ellermann, Antje. 2009. States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, American Journal of Sociology, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, German Studies Review; featured in “Campaign for the American Reader”

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Schinnerl, Sandra and Antje Ellermann. 2023. “The Education-Immigration Nexus: Situating Canadian Higher Education as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment.” Journal of International Migration & Integration

Ellermann, Antje. 2022. “Commentary: Canadian Exceptionalism.” In: James F. Hollifield et al. (eds.). Controlling Immigration: A Comparative Perspective (4th ed.). Stanford University Press, 168-174

Ellermann, Antje and Ben O’Heran. 2021. “Unsettling Migration Studies: Indigeneity and Immigration in Settler Colonial States.” In: Catherine Dauvergne (ed.) Research Handbook on the Law and Politics of Migration. Edward Elgar, 21-34

Ellermann, Antje and Yana Gorkokhovskaia. 2020. “The Impermanence of Permanence: The Rise of Probationary Immigration in Canada,” International Migration, 58: 45-60

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship,”Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2479

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Human-capital Citizenship and the Changing Logic of Immigrant Admissions,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2515-2532

Ellermann, Antje. 2019. “50 Years of Canadian Immigration Policy.” In Peter John Loewen, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Andrew Potter, and Sophie Borwein (eds.), Canada and Its Centennial and Sesquicentennial: Transformative Policy Then and Now, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Ellermann, Antje and Agustín Goenaga. 2019. “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States,” Politics & Society, 47(1), 87-116

Ellermann, Antje. 2015. “Do Policy Legacies Matter? Past and Present Guest Worker Recruitment in Germany.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(8), 1235-1253

Ellermann, Antje. 2014. “The Rule of Law and the Right to Stay: The Moral Claims of Undocumented Migrants.” Politics & Society, 42(3), 293-308

Ellermann, Antje. 2013. “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration? Self-Limited Sovereignty and Guest Worker Recruitment in Switzerland and Germany.” World Politics, 65(3), 491-538. Winner of the APSA Prize for Best Article in Migration and Citizenship

Ellermann, Antje. 2012. “Studying Migration Governance from the Bottom-Up.” With Matthew Gravelle and Catherine Dauvergne. In: The Social, Political, and Historical Contours of Deportation. Anderson, Bridget, Matthew Gibney & Emanuela Paoletti (eds.). New York: Springer

Ellermann, Antje. 2010. “Undocumented Migrants and Resistance in the Liberal State.” Politics & Society, 38(3), 408-429

Ellermann, Antje. 2008. “The Limits of Unilateral Migration Control: Deportation and Interstate Cooperation.” Government and Opposition, 43(2), 168-189

Ellermann, Antje. 2006. “Street-level Democracy? How Immigration Bureaucrats Manage Public Opposition.” West European Politics, 29(2), 287-303. Reprinted in Immigration Policy in Europe: The Politics of Control (2007), Virginie Guiraudon and Gallya Lahav (eds.), New York: Routledge, 93-109

Ellermann, Antje. 2005. “Coercive Capacity and the Politics of Implementation: Deportation in Germany and the United States.” Comparative Political Studies, 38(10), 1219-1244

Book Reviews

Review of “The Political Economy of Managed Migration: Nonstate Actors, Europeanization, and the Politics of Designing Migration Policies,” Georg Menz. 2010. Comparative Political Studies, 43, 156-160

Review of “Becoming Multicultural: Immigration and the Politics of Membership in Canada and Germany,” Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos. 2017 Canadian Journal of Political Science, 50(2), 639-641

Commentary

New World Disorder.” Fall/Winter 2020. Alumni UBC – TREK: The Migration Issue. 76:1, 5-7

With Agustín Goenaga. “Citizens in the West Should Care about Discriminatory Immigration Policies.” The Conversation, February 11, 2019. Reprinted in: National Post, February 12, 2019; LAWNOW, Vol. 43-4: Canadian Immigration, March 5, 2019

Fairness Lost in Immigration Reform.” The Vancouver Sun, January 24, 2013

Newsletters

Founding Editor, American Political Science Association Migration and Citizenship Newsletter, 2012-14 (4 issues)

Spring 2013. “Explaining Immigration Policy,” Polity (UBC Political Science Newsletter)

Work-in-progress

“The Education-Immigration Nexus: The Role of Universities as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment and Settlement” (with Sandra Schinnerl). Under review at Journal of International Migration and Integration

“Belonging in Unceded Territory: Immigration and Settler Identity in Vancouver” (with Ancel Zhu and Jessica Seegerts) (manuscript in progress)

“Immigration Policy and Bureaucratic Institutions: Beyond Implementation” (with Mireille Paquet and Claudia Serrano) (manuscript in progress)

Awards keyboard_arrow_down

2022. Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize. Research Committee on the Structure of Governance, International Political Science Association. Co-winner, Best Book on Comparative Administration or Public Policy (for The Comparative Politics of Immigration)

2016. Best Paper Award (with Agustín Goenaga), Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States”)

2014. Best Article Award, Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration,” World Politics)

2006. Early Career Scholar, UBC Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies

Graduate Supervision keyboard_arrow_down

I am interested in working with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with a research focus on migration, belonging, and citizenship.

Cindy Robin, Claudia Serrano, Ibukun Kayode, Salta Zhumatova

CURRENT SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Lisa Brunner, Postdoctoral Fellow

Sandra Schinnerl, Postdoctoral Fellow

PhD Supervisor

Claudia Serrano, “Migration Control Practices and Human Right Violations: The US and Australia in Comparison”

Cindy Robin, “The Political Economy of Diaspora Engagement as a Development Tool: The Case of Anglo-Caribbean Small Island Developing States”

Ibukun Kayode, “Experiences of Black Anglophone African Immigrant Women in Accessing Primary Healthcare in Canada” (Interdisciplinary Studies, Co-Supervisor)

PhD Committee Member

Denali Youngwolfe, “The Âhkameyihtamowin Project (We Rise): Mapping Indigenous Assurgency across Turtle Island”

Addye Susnick, “Trans Communities, Trans Joy, and Prefigurative Politics”

Nick Phin, “Cause or Effect? How Far-Right Messaging Influences Voter Attitudes”

Paolo Sosa-Villagarcia, “Why Does the Radical Right Become Mainstream? Peru in Comparative Perspective”

Serban Dragulin (Philosophy), “Science and Political Legitimacy”

MA Supervisor

Thelma Muñoz Barajas

Sofia Ngieng, “Locating Indigeneity in Migration Studies”

 

COMPLETED SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Kelsey Norman, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow

Jonathan Hall, Assistant Professor, University of Uppsala

PhD Supervisor

Camille Desmares, “Discrimination in Post-World War II Naturalization Policy: France and Switzerland” (2023)

Salta Zhumatova, “Mainstreaming the Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in the EU: Policy Framework and Policy Impact” (2022)

Sandra Schinnerl, (Interdisciplinary Studies), “The Influence of Higher Education on Immigration Policy in Canada” (2021, Co-supervisor)

Conrad King,“The Politics of Subsystems: Agenda Management and Policy Change in Education” (2018)

Stewart Prest, “Civil Peace, Political Conflict: Understanding Negative Cases of Civil War” (2015, Co-supervisor)

PhD Committee Member

Laura Cleton (University of Antwerp), “Deporting Children. Policy Framing, Legitimation and Intersectional Boundary Work” (2022)

Daniel Westlake, “Multiculturalism, Parties, and Voter Behaviour: Explaining the Role of Political Parties in the Development of Multiculturalism Policies” (2017)

Grace Lore, “Women in Politics: Descriptive and Substantive Representation and the Moderating Effect of Political Institutions”(2016)

Jan Boesten, “Between the Rule of Law and Democratic Security: Judicial, Constituent, and State Power in Columbia” (2015)

Agustín Goenaga Orrego, “The Social Origins of State Capacity: Civil Society, Political Order and Public Goods in France (1789-1970) and Mexico (1810-1970)” (2015)

Charles Breton, “Incorporation Policies, Identity, and Relationships between Host Societies and Immigrants” (2015)

Konrad Kalicki, “Acting Like a State: The Politics of Foreign Labour Admission in Japan and Taiwan”(2015)

Erin Penner, “The Attitudinal Mosaic: Forming Attitudes about Multiculturalism, Immigration, and Ethnic Diversity in Canada” (2013)

John Ferguson (Law), “International Human Trafficking in Canada: Why So Few Prosecutions?” (2012)

Joe Sulmona (Geography), “Trade with Security: How Canada and the Netherlands Relocated State Frontiers Through Civilian Aviation Networks” (2012)

MA Supervisor

Lee Barrett-Lennard, “Climate Change and the Shifting Cost-Benefit Calculus of Development in the Russian Far East and High Arctic” (2023)

Hanne Schaefer, “Memory Politics and Right-Wing Anti-Immigration Agendas in Contemporary Germany” (2023)

Chandima Silva (SCARP, main supervisor Leonora Angeles), “Moving beyond the Colonial Politics of Recognition by Transcultural Placemaking” (2023)

Melika Khajeh Hosseiny, “Reconceptualizing the Politics of Integration: Tactical Cosmopolitanism among Iranian Immigrants in Los Angeles” (2022)

Dhriti Mehta: “The Construction of the Emigrant-Unfriendly Liberal Democracy: The Case of India” (2022)

Sarah Despatie: “Secularism or Nationalism? Partisan Differences in Quebec’s Bill 21 Debate” (2021)

Renauld Chicoine-McKenzie, “Photographic Frames of Immigration in a Polarized Media Environment” (2021)

Isabella Picui, “Diversity and Inequality? An Analysis of Multicultural Policies and Immigrant Economic Integration in Europe” (2019)

Miaofeng Zhang, “The Hukou System and Sociopolitical Stability in China” (2015)

Tania Sawicki Mead, “Between Care and Control: The Uses and Abuses of Humanitarianism in Contemporary Migration Debates” (2015)

Forrest Barnum, “Crossnational Divergence in Post-OPEC Embargo Energy Policy in Germany and the United States” (2012)

Margery Pazdor (Institute for European Studies), “Female Genital Mutilation in France and the UK: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Policy Formation” (2009)

Lisa Stark, “Do Muslims Make the Difference? Explaining Within Country Variation on Mosque-Building Policies in Western Europe” (2007)

Additional Description keyboard_arrow_down

Download my most recent graduate syllabus for POLI 516c / PPGA 591H “Migration and Citizenship,”  Ellermann, graduate syllabus

Download my most recent undergraduate syllabus for POli328c “The Comparative Politics of Immigration,” Ellermann, undergraduate syllabus