Exploring Identity and Deservingness in Migration Policy

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Central to debates on state and citizen responses to migration are questions about who is deserving of rights and how various governmental institutions can productively engage with migration given the often politicized nature of the issue. For example, who counts as a refugee? Are migrants labeled as ‘refugees’ more deserving of aid than other migrants? Who deserves voting and citizenship rights? How do politicians manipulate these debates? This panel addresses these questions from multiple angles, examining migrants’ own understandings of questions of labels and deservedness, host community attitudes towards migrants, and politicians’ manipulation of migrant policy for political gain. The papers use a range of empirical approaches, including cross national survey data, survey experiments, and qualitative interview and content analysis across cases in the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, and Europe. Peters et al. use original survey and experimental data to interrogate how displaced Syrians, Iraqis and Venezuelans understand the label of ‘refugee’ and who they think is deserving of assistance. Using a randomized control trial of two aid programs, Woldemikael et al. examine how aid sharing between refugees and host communities affects support for refugees. Through an analysis of parliamentary debates, political platforms and interviews with opposition politicians in Turkey and the European Union, Norman and Irgil examine the often overlooked connections between international migration diplomacy and domestic politics, demonstrating the transformative effects of migration diplomacy for domestic politics and electoral competition across Global South states. Finally, using cross-sectional and original survey data, Marasa and Alarian examine whether political rights afforded to immigrants affect Europeans’ attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. Taken together, these papers further academic debates on attitudes towards migration and migration diplomacy, and their findings can help inform policy approaches to refugees assistance and migrant rights.

Sub Unit

• Division 52: Migration & Citizenship

Individual Presentations

• Who's Deserving? Migrants' Views on Asylum Policy - Margaret E. Peters, University of California, Los Angeles; Yang-Yang Zhou, Dartmouth College; Thania Sanchez, American Civil Liberties Union

• Can Aid Change Attitudes toward Refugees? Experimental Evidence from Uganda - Olivia Asmara Woldemikael, Harvard University; Helidah Ogude, The World Bank; Thomas Ginn, Center for Global Development

• Assessing the Domestic Impacts of Turkey’s Coercive Migration Diplomacy - Kelsey P. Norman, Rice University; Ezgi Irgil, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs

• How Voting Rights Affects Public Opinion toward Immigration in the EU - Sabrina Marasa; Hannah Marie Alarian, University of Florida

Chair

• Stephanie Schwartz The London School of Economics and Political Science

Discussant

• Rebecca Hamlin University of Massachusetts, Amherst