Sabrina Axster

Sabrina Axster was a DAAD/AGI Research Fellow in May and June 2017. She is currently a doctoral student in Global Affairs at Rutgers University and will be transferring to join the Political Science Department at Johns Hopkins University in September 2017. Prior to joining Rutgers University, Ms. Axster was a research consultant at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs where she was directly involved in the substantive and intergovernmental preparations for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She holds an MSc in International Development Studies from the University of Amsterdam.

Her research interests include critical international relations theory, migration, the role of private actors in migration, questions of sovereignty and border control, and the representation and categorization of migrants.

During her time at AGI, Ms. Axster will be investigating the privatization of migration in the U.S. and Germany. Migration is big business and a variety of private actors profit from the movement of people across the borders. These actors span all aspects of the migratory process and may help to either facilitate or curb migration. Moreover, they exert different levels of political influence, operate at various levels of legality, and relate to the state in different ways. While some scholars support the increasing privatization of migration as an effective way to deliver government services, others question its effectiveness as well as the impact on migrant communities and the lives of migrants. Her fellowship at AGI will seek to further explore the role private actors play in migration in Germany and the U.S. and with what effects.