Recognizing international protection how institutional arrangements affect asylum decisions

Abstract

More than 70 years after the adoption of the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention, there still exists large cross-country differences in terms of protection recognition. In this article, we argue that cross-country differences are likely due to different opportunity structures: because international protection stems from the administrative-legal procedures through which claims are examined, we investigate the institutional arrangements that make up Refugee Status Determination systems. We collect original data covering 14 European countries, Canada and South Africa over the years 2000–2020 and test the relationship between institutional arrangements and recognition rates. We find that the actors involved in the decision-making process matter: a plurality of actors likely leads to fairer outcomes, depending on which procedure or stage these actors are involved. Importantly, we report that extensive procedural rights, and guarantee of their enjoyment on the part of asylum seekers, significantly correlate with asylum seekers’ chances to see their claim recognized.