Coping with the asylum challenge: tightening and streamlining policies in Western Europe

Bernhard, Laurent; Kaufmann, David (2018). Coping with the asylum challenge: tightening and streamlining policies in Western Europe. Journal of ethnic and migration studies : JEMS, 44(15), pp. 2506-2523. Routledge 10.1080/1369183X.2018.1433996

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To cope with the challenges posed by growing numbers of asylum seekers, Western European countries have relied on tightening policies over the last decades. We propose to complement this traditional and one-dimensional view by highlighting the importance of encompassing streamlining policies that aim to enhance the efficiency of national asylum systems through procedural accelerations and structural reforms. We argue that political conflicts over tightening and streamlining policies follow different logics. While it is hypothesised that the level of support for the former increases the more to the right a given actor position itself, approval for the latter is expected to decline with the degree of ideological extremity on the left–right axis. The empirical case relies on structured elite interviews conducted with the major political organisations involved in a referendum on the urgent modifications of the Swiss asylum law in 2013. Our quantitative findings tend to support our hypotheses.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

11 Centers of Competence > KPM Center for Public Management

UniBE Contributor:

Kaufmann, David

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 320 Political science
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 350 Public administration & military science

ISSN:

1469-9451

Publisher:

Routledge

Language:

English

Submitter:

David Christen

Date Deposited:

15 Mar 2018 09:59

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:11

Publisher DOI:

10.1080/1369183X.2018.1433996

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Asylum, asylum policies, Western Europe, Switzerland, referendum

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.112671

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/112671

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