Asylum Policy Research Articles

Framing Asylum at the Local Level: Experts’ Narratives of Conflictual Dynamics in the Post-Reception Period in Italy

AbstractStudies on the framing of the refugee crisis have focused on media and political discourses, revealing contrasting views and an increasing politicization of immigration. However, the framing-of-asylum discourse in relation to the reception and settlement of asylum seekers in local communities has so far received less attention, especially when conflictual dynamics emerge. This article investigates the ways in which experts at different levels make sense of how the refugee crisis has unfolded in local communities in Italy. Insofar as asylum governance has become a contentious issue, it looks at conflictual situations. The research challenges the binary between humanitarian and fear frames by suggesting the prevalence of a managerialist frame focusing on a problematic implementation of asylum policies. Taking into consideration the opinions of local experts, it also reveals a shift from a fear frame to an inconvenience frame, which denies xenophobic discourses on invasion or social/public disorder in local communities, but finds other reasons to deny acceptance. The article also adds to the study of the horizontal dynamics between public and private actors, which are central, especially at the local level, and introduces refugees as subjects who actively participate in the “battleground” of asylum governance. Therefore, claims about a negotiated order between different tiers of governance within the multilevel governance approach are challenged.

Integrative Organized Hypocrisy? Normative Contentions within the EU and the Refugee Migrant Crisis

In 2015 and 2016, 2.3 million individuals applied for asylum in Europe, the highest number since the creation of the EU. The unprecedented strain on the Common European Asylum policies (CEAS), along with the asymmetric pressure on external border countries and the lack of unified support for border controls, highlighted the tensions between member-state sovereignty and regional competence. According to Lavenex (2018), the Refugee and Migrant Crisis (RMC) was first and foremost a crisis of governance, expressing doubts about the EU’s ability to “fail forward” into further integration in the long-run because of “organised hypocrisy”, an unintended organisational strategy deployed to cope with otherwise irreconcilable differences between normative aspirations and real-life actions concerning asylum. This article revisits Lavenex’s premise of European governance and organised hypocrisy and argues for a more optimistic outlook on European integration. Using the infrastructural Europeanism framework as identified by Pelizza and Loschi (2023), this article argues that despite the legal and legislative gridlocks that surround important issues such as asylum, European integration in relation to asylum is ‘failing forward’ in no small part due to organised hypocrisy and not in spite of it.

Towards a ‘low ambition equilibrium’: managing refugee aspirations during the integration process in Switzerland

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of policy in influencing refugee educational and occupational aspirations and how this translates into promoting or hindering certain integration paths. 29 refugees in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland were interviewed and asked about their educational and occupational aspirations. Three policies were identified as having an important influence on their aspirations formation namely, asylum policy, integration policy in addition to university access and degree recognition policy. Findings show that the three policies combined contribute to creating what I refer to as ‘Low Ambition Equilibrium’. This means that on one hand these policies promote the quickest and most accessible integration paths to reduce refugees’ dependence on the welfare state. On the other hand, the experience of forced migration combined with a ‘policy-dense’ environment create a lot of uncertainty in the life of refugees and the urgency to find a lost ‘normality’ at the expense of their aspirations.

From asylum to labour: track change in German migration policy

Asylum and labour migration used to be processed along sharply separate legal-political tracks, recognising either humanitarian need or individual performance, respectively. This binary is losing traction, as neoliberal performance criteria and mundane labour needs hold entry in the asylum domain. This trend is illustrated along the Spurwechsel (track change) in German migration policy. While the preference for track change traverses party lines, it is marked by a tension between the imperatives of migration control and migrant integration. This allows for political variation, the right tending towards the control and the left towards the integration horn of the dilemma. Under a recently left-dominated government, which is at the same time receptive to business calls for more Fachkräfte (skilled labour), the control versus integration dilemma has been decisively resolved in favour of integration, up to a point that the state’s sovereign migration control function and the integrity of asylum policy are put at risk.

Ambivalent recognition: young unaccompanied refugees’ encounters with Norwegian society

ABSTRACT Receiving the right to stay in Norway might seem a critical factor for refugees’ well-being and belonging. Yet, this research shows that young unaccompanied refugees experience ambivalent feelings towards Norwegian society after their resettlement. The study is based on a qualitative research design with 14 young unaccompanied refugees residing in Norway. Drawing on recognition theory, we focus on how participants’ psychosocial well-being is constituted through their encounters with social workers and helpers, restrictive asylum policies, and anti-immigration discourses in Norwegian society. Our findings suggest that, while social workers are central to the well-being of these young people, their interaction is sometimes perceived by the young people as emotional misrecognition. Further, while they have the right to residency, their right to family life is not fully recognised, and this poses a threat to their well-being. Anti-immigration discourses contribute further to feelings of ambivalent recognition. Participants strived to manage through active involvement in relationships, everyday coping, sensemaking, critical reflection and social engagement, insisting on their own and other refugees’ worth. We argue that youth-focused social services must explicitly engage with these young people’s broader legal, emotional and social (mis)recognition and with their ways of managing challenges when assisting them in achieving well-being.

Deterrence-based asylum policies exacerbate health inequities among women and children seeking safety at the US–Mexico border

Deterrence-based asylum policies exacerbate health inequities among women and children seeking safety at the US–Mexico border

Where is climate asylum?

This editorial discusses an alarming issue in the time of climate change: climate mobilities and, particularly, forced climate migration and the need for climate refuge and climate asylum. The focus is on the European Union (EU) where migration and asylum policies are being currently developed under the 'New Pact', yet with little intention to relate with climate mobilities of any kind. Neither does the EU's environmental and climate policy Green Deal give much attention to human mobility. At the same time, the EU has commenced many briefings on the topic, which shows that the subject matter itself is well known. The editorial hence asks, where is climate asylum if not in the EU, and when, if not at this juncture of creating new asylum policies?

How Do Consociations Craft Asylum Policy? Lebanon’s Response to Conflict-Induced Displacement as an Exploratory Case

Abstract How do consociations craft their asylum policy, and how do they deal with the rights of “others”? Research has started to explore the relationship between consociational governance and non-ethnic or non-sectarian social groups. Yet, we still know little about how consociations interact with refugee flight on the one hand, and with the ethics of refugee protection on the other. As a form of thick institutional complexity, consociationalism risks limiting the ability of the state to respond to refugee displacement in a manner that is timely, effective, and which respects the rights and dignity of displaced individuals. We draw on Lebanon’s response to the arrival of some 1.5 million displaced individuals in the country since the start of Syria’s lethal conflict in 2011 as an exploratory case study that seeks to further knowledge on how consociations craft and implement their asylum policy. Specifically, we consider three mechanisms of immobilism that constrain the crafting of unified, responsive, and inclusive asylum policy and that are posed by the consociational state apparatus itself: ethnicization/sectarianization, procrastination, and fragmentation. Building on Lebanon’s patterns of refugee policymaking, we show how these mechanisms mutually reinforce one another, backfiring on policy congruence as well as refugee rights and protection.

Current Challenges of Asylum and Migration Policy of Slovakia

Migration as such is currently an evolutionary phenomenon, which is most pronounced in recent decades. Political, security and socio-economic aspects are one of the causes of migration. The reason is also climate change and therefore it can be ranked among the current challenges of civilization. The issue of migration became known after the outbreak of the migration crisis in 2015. Currently, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, it has again become known to the public as well as the academic community. Following Russia's attack on Ukraine, EU member states began to face a new wave of migration. The onslaught on the borders is visible in Slovakia, and for this reason the country had to adapt legislation in this area. The aim of the article is to examine the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on Slovakia's migration and asylum policy as a result of changes at the European level after the outbreak of the military conflict in Ukraine. By analyzing documents, we examine changes in the legislative migration and asylum policy of Slovakia. Through qualitative research using the empirical-analytical method, it identifies the shortcomings of Slovakia's migration and asylum policy, which appeared after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

Mind the gap! Organized hypocrisy in EU cooperation with Southern neighbor countries on international protection

Abstract The European Union (EU) has reacted to the migration crises of the last decade with growing externalization of migration management to neighbor countries often accused of not respecting human rights and individual liberties. Focusing on EU cooperation with the Southern neighborhood, as defined within the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) framework, this paper investigates the recent developments in the EU's external migration policies, demonstrating that there is a gap between EU discourses and policy instruments identified by the EU as strategic tools of the European migration and asylum policy (MAP). Five Southern neighbor countries (SNCs) have been selected, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, to assess the extent to which the EU, when cooperating on migration and asylum issues, places international protection at risk instead of playing the role of humanitarian actor in accordance with the ideals and principles it defends. The research critically analyzes the EU's cooperation with SNCs concerning migration, as developed via international agreements, action plans, and mobility partnerships under the umbrella of the ENP. In particular, it explores the incompatibility between the European MAP instruments and international protection. MAP, the qualitative analysis shows, represents a clear mismatch between EU talk and action, outlining another case of organized hypocrisy.

“I Live in Agony”: the Everyday Insecurity of Rejected Somali Asylum-seekers in Finland

Finland, like other countries in Europe, has recently implemented restrictive asylum policies intended to deter asylum-seekers. This article uses the concept of everyday insecurity to study the effects of these policies on the lives of rejected asylum-seekers from Somalia in Finland. Material for this article is primarily drawn from in-depth individual interviews with people whose asylum claims have been rejected by the Finnish authorities. It is also informed by participatory observations and informal discussions with community leaders and activists. The article argues that new restrictive asylum policies create everyday insecurity for rejected asylum-seekers in several ways, including by denying them access to entitlements. These policies also cause rejected asylum-seekers to feel powerless when dealing with actors such as politicians, bureaucrats, employers, lawyers, social workers, health service providers, and their peers. They may also feel unable to help themselves or their loved ones. These policies also subject rejected asylum-seekers to extreme forms of exploitation in the labor market and other domains.

Daring to aspire: theorising aspirations in contexts of displacement and highly constrained mobility

ABSTRACT Binary distinctions between ‘refugees’ and ‘economic migrants’ continue to prevail in humanitarian discourse, with asylum policies heavily focusing on refugees’ vulnerabilities and reduced choices. By addressing the paradox between vulnerability and agency embedded in the international protection regime, this article aims to lay the foundations for reconceptualising aspirations in contexts of displacement and highly constrained mobility. First, we analyse how the current asylum regime selectively encourages certain aspirations among refugees and delegitimises others which do not fit the image of the hopeless refugee deserving assistance. Then, we pursue three new analytical avenues in adding nuance to previous versions of the aspiration–capability framework. First, we discuss the importance of aspirations to stay in contexts of displacement and suggest that aspirations to stay and to migrate should not be seen as mutually exclusive. Second, drawing on psychological studies, we highlight that aspirations can be an emotional resource even in contexts where their realisation seems to be or certainly is unreachable. Lastly, we propose looking at the political dimensions of individual and collective aspirations to understand how displaced people can strive to induce social and political change despite the structural constraints they face.

Governing resettlement beyond safety: Multilevel governance as a model for sustainable resettlement of unaccompanied refugee children in rural Sweden?

AbstractThis article explores the sustainability of the resettlement of unaccompanied refugee children from their perspective. Against the backdrop of a critical assessment of the multilevel governance of resettlement, it compares two rural municipalities. Unaccompanied refugee children in the municipality with a disempowering local governance model were hindered to engage with civil society, while in the municipality with an enabling model, their integration was enhanced. Achieving safety by legal residency does not by itself resolve the liminalities of belonging to unaccompanied refugee children. Beyond positive engagement by professionals, supporting encounters with civil society were found to enhance integration and belonging, while the lack of these strengthened marginalities. Unaccompanied refugee children resettlement is largely influenced by the benevolence of local actors when the state vacates its responsibility to co‐ordinate efforts. While civil society has an important role to play, a helping civil society cannot be assumed. Tensions rose also due to the collision between institutional styles. The marketisation of refugee reception at the national level led to loss of ability to plan schooling in rural municipalities, reinforcing practices of physical and symbolic segregation of children in the refugee context education. These accounts shed also light on the resilience of unaccompanied refugee children encountering local resettlement efforts emerging in the context of increasingly securitised asylum policies.

Legal Regulation of the External Dimension of the Common European Asylum System: current state and future perspectives

INTRODUCTION. The article provides a thorough analysis of the external dimension of the European Union’s (EU) migration and asylum policy and its main components. The primary object of the research is the external area of the EU’s activities in the field of forced migration. The aim of the article is to define political and legal contours of the external dimension of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), trace its development from 2015 to 2022, and determine future directions of its evolvement.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The aforementioned objectives are achieved through deployment of the following methodological designs: descriptive, exploratory, historical and case study. The article gives a detailed overview of the programming documents of the EU, acts of the EU law concerning forced migration, and their implementation in the context of global and regional instabilities.RESEARCH RESULTS. Forced migration as an object of legal and political regulation on the part of the EU is subjected to “externalization” due to inconsistent internal practices and overall deviation of the EU members from the fundamental and internationally recognized burden-sharing principle in the field of refugee law. Such an approach should be perceived as an additional reason for potential deterioration of the migration situation in Europe, not to mention other possible implications on the human rights and economic dimensions.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The results of the analysis allow to draw significant conclusions: the external dimension of the CEAS became a top priority for the EU predominantly due to the inability of the European actors to reach consensus on the internal elements of the system; the external dimension of the CEAS may be characterized as a complex system consisting of political, legal and quasi-legal acts governing the EU’s external actions in the field of forced migration; the EU’s support became dependent on the willingness of its external partners to cooperate on migration-related issues; several external actors gained more bargaining power; external partnerships need to be readjusted in order to be efficient under current geopolitical circumstances.

Post-migration living difficulties, discrimination, and mental health of traumatized refugees in Germany: data from the refuKey project for timely and need-adapted treatment in a stepped-care setting

Asylum seekers and refugees (ASR) experience many short-term and long-term post-migration stressors, e.g. discrimination after resettlement, leading to increased psychiatric morbidity in this population. Using data from the state-funded stepped-care project refuKey based in Lower Saxony, Germany, that aims to provide better mental health care access for ASR, we investigated the relationship between post-migration stressors and mental health in treatment-seeking ASR. In our naturalistic multi-centric study we assessed mental health (e.g. symptoms of depression, anxiety, traumatization, etc.), post-migration living difficulties, and perceived discrimination in ASR before and after treatment using questionnaires in eight languages consisting of internationally validated scales. Participants displayed poor mental health before, and significantly improved mental health parameters after treatment (p < 0.001). Post-migration living difficulties and perceived discrimination significantly predicted all mental health outcomes before treatment (p < 0.001) but not the treatment effects. However, perceived discrimination only contributed significantly to the prediction of quality-of-life and traumatization. Our findings suggest that refuKey-treatment helps despite the presence of post-migration living difficulties. Asylum policies should aim at reducing and overcoming post-migration living difficulties due to the strong association to mental health levels in treatment-seeking ASR.

The power of symbolic sanctuary: insights from Wales on the limitations and potential of a regional approach to sanctuary

ABSTRACT This article explores sanctuary policies and practices from a regional perspective. Following a declaration by the Welsh government in 2019, Wales became the first and only European region to explicitly connect to the wider sanctuary movement, with the stated intention of becoming a true ‘Nation of Sanctuary' (NoS) (Welsh Government. 2019. “Nation of Sanctuary: Refugee and Asylum Seeker Plan.” Cardiff: Welsh Government). We argue that the Welsh government’s approach to sanctuary is richly symbolic and is used strategically to compensate for the lack of formal legislative competencies in the field of immigration, and to position itself in opposition to the UK government. The article highlights the potential of symbolic policies to underpin a regional form of sanctuary, along with their limitations. We show that regions can use symbolic policies to overcome their lack of legislative competency in asylum policies and argue that symbolic policies allow regional governments to position themselves as allies to those supporting refugees and asylum seekers, and as an opponent of the state. In addition, we illustrate how a regional government's symbolic commitment facilitates concerted action on the part of relevant actors within the region. However, we also highlight the fragility and inconsistency of symbolic sanctuary.

Topographies of Exclusion: Refugees, Windrush, and the Politics of Space in Recent British Film

Through an analysis of recent film and moving image work documenting the Hostile Environment, this essay challenges the distinction often drawn between postcolonial migrants and refugees, arguing that Britain's punitive immigration and asylum policy broadens what it means to be made stateless. With particular reference to the Windrush docudrama Sitting in Limbo (2020) and Remi Weekes' asylum horror His House (2020), this essay explores how a series of recent documentaries, docudramas and fiction films have successfully spatialised the hostile environment; that is, how they have exposed the topography of exclusion and containment that determines migrant subjectivities in contemporary Britain. By setting the Windrush Scandal in the larger context of migrant representation, the aim is to expose the continuities between migrant groups in their historical relationship to the nation state. The representational politics of space in recent film work offers a keen insight into these entangled histories.

Understanding social innovation in refugee integration: actors, practices, politics in Europe

The so-called ‘refugee crisis’ marked a crucial juncture in migration governance across Europe. Policy-makers and local communities face the challenge of receiving and integrating migrants (often in extremely vulnerable conditions) in a context of poor governance arrangements and rising skepticism, or even hostility. In the light of such a complex scenario, this special issue explores social innovation as a promising approach to refugee integration. Socially innovative practices are indeed based on the active engagement of policy-makers and assorted stakeholders—including target groups through co-creation. In the realm of asylum policies, social innovation can thus facilitate the meeting of refugees’ needs as well as the benevolence of receiving communities, ultimately strengthening social cohesion in regions of settlement. Families hosting migrants at home, community-based cooperatives, and self-managed social spaces are all instances of socially innovative practices that are often initiated by non-state actors but that might be upscaled and transformed into fully fledged public policies—especially by policy-makers at the local and regional levels. The special issue will focus on labor, housing, and social integration of refugees (especially in the stages after their first reception) in the context of Central European cities and regions. The purpose is to develop conceptual tools for evaluating and designing socially innovative practices that might ultimately improve the social innovation capacity of local and regional governments. As the ‘social innovation’ concept risks to be ambiguous, the special issue will also allow researchers to develop a set of empirically grounded indicators for measuring social innovation capacity—especially based on the analysis of best practices that can be upscaled and replicated through mutual learning.

Turkey’s asylum policies over the last century: continuity, change and contradictions

ABSTRACT This article explores Turkey’s century-long asylum policies by highlighting two enduring policy considerations. The first is Turkey's process of convergence with the norms and principles of the global refugee regime. The second is the persistent practice of granting refugees protection of a temporary nature. These two policy considerations are discussed by employing the conceptual frameworks of ‘policy diffusion’ and the ‘nationalizing migration state.’ The study concludes that Turkey’s asylum policies have been shaped by the tension between these two policy considerations over the past century.

Implications of restrictive asylum policies: evidence from metering along the U.S.-Mexico Border

Implications of restrictive asylum policies: evidence from metering along the U.S.-Mexico Border