A guest post by Anne Droste, current student in our 2022-23 MPP cohort With the introduction of the Opportunity Residence Act (which came into force in Germany on 31 December 2022), many long-term ‘tolerated’ migrants now have the chance to receive a residence permit. However, due to the Act’s strict conditions and failure to recognise the lived realities of tolerated migrants, Germany has once again missed an opportunity to permanently end the state of legal limbo known as ‘chain toleration’. &...
When people ask me where I’m from, I tell them, 'Texas', rather than the United States. We Texans are notoriously prideful of our beloved state and its heritage, and as far from home as I may be, I am no exception to this rule. However, it’s been over three years since Texas was actually home; meanwhile, I’ve lived on two more continents: two years in Morocco as an English teacher, and a year here in the Netherlands for my master’s degree, beginning my second as a research assistant....
Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the United States has been performing what seems to be a partial withdrawal from the international stage. This retreat is sometimes purposeful, as when the administration realised its campaign promise to exit the Paris climate agreement. But it is also sometimes uncertain, as when Vice President Mike Pence offered a conciliatory endorsement of NATO’s Article 5 in early June, just days after Trump failed to do so during his speech in Brussels....
I was born in Aachen, a child of a German mother and a Palestinian father. As a German, I am the owner of the most ‘powerful passport’ in the world -- a passport that grants me the freedom to travel and visit the most beautiful places around the globe. Yet, my Palestinian roots were seeded in Gaza, which is sometimes called the world's largest outdoor prison. It may be this dichotomy between mobility and immobility that shaped my values and worldviews and also the way I am living my life: someho...
Dr. Franziska Gassmann was made Professor in the Department of Social Security Studies at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Science (HBRS), Germany, on 28 May 2015. She was welcomed and confirmed in the role by University President Prof. Hartmut Ihne, in a signing ceremony attended by Dr. Esther Schuring, a PhD alumna who now works as a lecturer and researcher at HBRS. Prof. Gassmann will remain based in Maastricht, but teach occasional Master courses at HBRS. These will cover a broad ra...