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AuthorInge van Leeuwen
TitleResponsibility-sharing in the European Union : explaining the difficulty and feasibility of cooperation on the provision of protection to asylum seekers and refugees
SupervisorJ. Doomernik
Year2011
Pages63
FacultyFaculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Institute/dept.FMG: Afdeling Politicologie
AbstractWithin the European Union, applying for asylum has often been compared to a lottery because of a great variety in Member State policies. Consequently, inequalities in the responsibilities regarding asylum and refugee provision can be witnessed, as well as Member States neglecting their international humanitarian obligations. Assuming that a fair and equal sharing of solidarity is needed for a common European asylum system to be established, this thesis seeks to explain why it is difficult for EU Member States to cooperate on asylum and refugee issues and what kind of responsibility-sharing system is most likely to be agreed upon. In doing so, it first applies the public goods theory and joint-product theory in order to clarify why the current disparities exist. The Prisoner’s Dilemma and Putnam’s two-level game theory then provide explanations for the difficulty of cooperation. Following conclusions on the first part of the research question it is expected that Member States will most likely agree on a sharing mechanism that suits those countries currently facing low application rates better than countries which carry a disproportionately large responsibility. This expectation is confirmed by analysing the influence of three kinds of responsibilitysharing1 on the costs Member States bear under the status quo. Data derived from two studies on the feasibility of responsibility-sharing and an additional questionnaire also support the hypothesis, by concluding that financial compensation is preferred to physical relocation. However, in order to fully account for both the international humanitarian obligations and state-specific interests, this thesis recommends that instead of focussing on one-dimensional mechanism, the EU Member States should adopt a multi-dimensional trading logic. This way, the comparative advantages of states are recognized and the effectiveness of providing protection is increased rather than reduced.
Document type scriptie master
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