Asylum Policy in the West: Past Trends, Future Possibilities

Abstract

This article examines the policy responses of Western countries in the realm of asylum. We begin by explaining the reasons why the asylum issue has made its way up the political agendas of liberal democratic countries in recent years. While applications for asylum have risen in the last two decades, we also highlight the way rights-based constraints and financial costs have contributed to controversy around the issue. We then examine in detail the major policy responses of states to asylum, grouping them into four main categories: measures aiming to prevent access to state territory, measures to deter arrivals, measures to limit stay, and measures to manage arrival. Moving then to explore the efficacy of these measures, we consider the utility of policy making from the viewpoints of states, asylum seekers and refugees, and international society. The article concludes with the presentation of four new directions in which policies could move in order better to square the professed interests of Western states with the needs of refugees for protection.

The End of the Deterrence Paradigm? Future Directions for Global Refugee Policy

“…It established a legal regime that, despite its obvious shortcomings, 1 extended a core set of individual rights for political refugees. During the Cold War, international refugee law came to play a crucial role in legitimizing the politics of the West (Gibney and Hansen 2003;Chimni 1998). In the 1950s and 1960s refugee flows were primarily conceived as an East to West movement and granting asylum to defectors consequently entailed scoring ideological points.…”

“…At the same time, globalization has made both knowledge of faraway destinations and transcontinental transportation more readily available. And rather than conforming to the traditional image of the singular bona fide asylum seeker, refugees are increasingly caught up in mixed flows of irregular migrants, often facilitated by human smugglers specialized in avoiding traditional forms of border control (Gibney and Hansen 2003;Castles and Miller 2003;Barnett 2002;Zolberg 2001).…”

Spatial Dependence in Asylum Migration

“…Hailbronner (2000), Schuster (2000), Zetter et al (2003), Thielemann (2004), Gibney and Hansen (2005), and Hatton (2004Hatton ( , 2009) provide comprehensive overviews of asylum policies in developed nations. 3 Here we briefly summarize the most important developments.…”

“…For instance, France withdrew the permission to work for asylum seekers in 1991, Germany followed suit in 1997 and the United Kingdom in 2002. While some countries, for example Germany and Belgium, provide benefits to asylum seekers in-kind rather than cash payments, others such as the United States, France, and Italy entitle asylum seekers to fewer welfare benefits than permanent residents or entitlement is subject to stricter conditions (Gibney and Hansen 2005). Also housing asylum applicants in detention centres is a measure to make a target country relatively less attractive.…”

“…Also, penalties for agents who smuggle individuals into the country and for carriers by land, sea and air of undocumented arrivals fall into this category (Gibney and Hansen 2005).…”