Are Non-Majoritarian Institutions the Life Buoys of Migrant Rights?

• In Event: Poster Session: International Security III & Migration and Citizenship
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Migration and Citizenship

Abstract

Non-majoritarian institutions such as courts or technocratic agencies have been demonstrated to act as liberal constraints on policy-makers across different levels of governance, safeguarding migrant rights against populist pressures for restrictions in immigration policy-making. Yet, so far there have not been studies to explore the impact of non-majoritarian institutions in the implementation of asylum and refugee policies, for example when decisions are taken on whether an asylum seeker deserves protection status or not. There is ample of evidence that shows that refugee recognition rates vary widely among countries, over time and between first instance and appeal decisions. This paper seeks to explore to what extent such variation can be accounted for by the relative insulation of decision-makers from populist pressures. To do so we will identify new ways to measure administrative and judicial independence and use a new large-N quantitative dataset on the recognition rates of first and second instance refugee determination decisions to assess the role played by administrative and judicial independence in protecting migrant rights.

Authors

• Eiko Thielemann, London School of Economics

• Natascha Zaun, London School of Economics and Political Science