Negotiation processes in the international refugee regime - Europe and its partner states

Migration Department

Project head: Dr. Ramona RischkeDr. Zeynep Yanaşmayan

Project coordination: Dr. Marcus Engler

Running time January 2021 until December 2022
Status Completed project

International refugee policy is based on a high degree of willingness to cooperate on the part of states. Despite existing regulations under international law and political agreements, there are permanent disputes and negotiations about the actual form of refugee policy. As a result of unresolved problems of cooperation within Europe, combined with a shift in political discourse and majorities in some EU states, European decision-makers are increasingly seeking refugee policy solutions outside Europe. This is also evident in the migration pact presented by the EU Commission in September 2020. Many aspects of this externalisation policy are criticised. However, public debates and existing research focus predominantly on the immediate consequences for individual protection seekers and their more difficult access to protection and asylum. However, there is an important gap in research on the long-term consequences for the willingness of countries of first reception and transit in the European periphery to accept protection seekers and to participate in international responsibility-sharing. There is also insufficient research on the extent to which governments of neighbouring states of the EU try to politically instrumentalise the presence of refugees and migrants on their territory vis-à-vis the EU. Investigating this is of great importance not only for academia, but also for the German and European public and politics, in whose interest a long-term stable global refugee regime must be.

Funding: Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Institutional funding)