Browsing by Author "Hamer, Christina"

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Open Access
Influence and impact: interacting factors in asylum policy-making and implementation in Canada and Turkey (1988-92)
(Routledge, 2020) Özçürümez, Saime; Hamer, Christina
With rates of asylum seekers increasing across decades worldwide, why do high- and middle-income countries persistently adopt more restrictive asylum policies? By analyzing data from the cases of Canada and Turkey (1988-92), this study shows that domestic policy preferences of decision-makers and refugee determination systems constitute the factors with the highest impact on restrictive asylum policy-making. Through the use of latent content analysis of primary historical documents and elite and expert interviews and an innovative application of the ADVIAN classification method of impact analysis, this study claims that interactions among institutions are critical for the changes a country's asylum policy. Conclusions of this study challenge existing research to move beyond monocausal explanatory schemes for understanding restrictive asylum policy trends and engage with complex frameworks accounting for interacting factors.
Open Access
State actors and the effects of international crisis on asylum policy in Canada and Turkey
(2018-12) Hamer, Christina
Over the last 25 years, the literature suggests that asylum policies in industrialized countries have become increasingly restrictive and selective. Although there is academic debate, particularly in connection with security studies, presently accepted definitions of ‘refugee’ and ‘asylum’ tend to be informed by the Convention and its creation in response to movement of people coming out of devastating conflict. This research examines six influential factors identified as affecting the implementation of asylum policy within four different historical cases of refugee influx stemming from international conflict: Canada and Turkey, 1988-1992 and 2001-2005. It uses a new method, ADVIAN classification, to analyze non-linear relationships amongst factors to understand which are the most active, passive, and critical, and how the factors interact as a system. This research uses data from the study of primary historical documents and information from elite interviews. By understanding the relationships and status of each factor within the system, this research contributes to understanding asylum policy as comparative systems and identifies common interactions amongst factors across diverse cases.