Elite Preferences for Maintaining Policy Discretion Over Refugee Rights

• In Event: Public Policies in Comparative Perspectives

Abstract

This research project delves into the policy dynamics of refugee inclusion in African host countries, highlighting the role of elite preferences in the strategic use of policy discretion. Many African nations, perceiving refugee presence as temporary adopt flexible, burden-sharing models, which do not guarantee refugees a permanent status and are subject to change with domestic and international political pressures.

The study posits that this policy flexibility—characterized by discretionary and revokable measures—is a deliberate strategy by host governments to maintain negotiation leverage with high-income countries and adapt to shifting political conditions. Through a combination of survey experiments targeting Kenyan political elites and elite interviews with key informants across 16 refugee hosting countries, this research examines the conditions under which governments pursue formal policy action that can reduce flexibility in practice; and examines how elites understand and balance tradeoffs between control and flexibility in policy and practice under competing incentives.

Initial findings suggest that politicians value and weigh tradeoffs between control and flexibility differently across different incentives. These incentives are influenced by domestic politics, international relations, and financial considerations from global actors. My findings shed light on the nuanced and variable approaches of policymakers towards refugee in- and exclusion, underlining the intricate political and economic forces that drive policy decisions in an environment where global responsibility-sharing is professed but not consistently practiced.

Author

• Shelby Carvalho, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences