What explains the variations in refugee status granting among states? How is refugee status determined? The purpose of the study is to analyze if politics affect refugee status granting to asylum-seekers. Despite the political implications revolving around refugee issues, forced migration studies are still a neglected topic in international relations research. However, scholarly works that focus on forced migration often overlook broad political themes, and do not thoroughly examine how politics affect refugee status rates across countries. This dissertation examines state responses to forced migration. It quantitatively investigates the research questions across countries between 2000 and 2013. It argues state interests affect refugee recognition rates. Specifically, it hypothesizes that bilateral relations between states and the domestic politics of the host state affect refugee recognition rates. This study finds rival host states grant refugee status recognition rates greater than non-rival host states. The results also find refugee status rates increase in dyads that are in alliances compared to dyads that are not in similar pacts. It also finds asylum rates decrease as bilateral trade increases. Most of the models show the more democratic a state becomes, the less asylum is granted. However, the results also demonstrate democracies grant asylum slightly more than non-democracies, and autocracies grant asylum less compared to non-autocracies. However, opposite results are found for democracies and autocracies that are not signatories of the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol. The study also finds minimal support for refugee recognition rates decreasing during years of national, executive elections. While the results did not find support for all hypotheses, this study concludes that on average, political and commercial relations between states affect refugee recognition rates.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Author's Master of Arts thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-184). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-184). Also available via the World Wide Web.

This thesis uses the narratives of North Koreans living in South Korea (t'albungmin) to understand how they make sense of their positioning in South Korean society. Based on 21 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Seoul, this study attempts to illuminate the contradictory nature of citizenship for young t'albungmin living under the dictates of neoliberal humanitarian governance in contemporary South Korea. As a result of the specific geopolitical configuration of the Korean peninsula, there are contradictory perceptions of North Koreans as compatriots, victims, and enemies: perceptions both affecting and affected by the role of t'albungmin in South Korea's political economy. I consider citizenship a site of negotiation, influenced by South Korean modes of neoliberal humanitarian governance, which encourage t'albungmin to become autonomous, self-managed subjects at the same time as subjecting them to humanitarian reason which, conversely, rewards passivity and compliance. There is a further contradiction between their automatic entitlement to South Korean citizenship and the neoliberal imperative to demonstrate productivity and deservingness. In light of these contradictory imperatives, perceptions and discourses surrounding issues such as accent, deservingness, and responsibility come to take on significant explanatory power in the lives of young t'albungmin. In this context, South Korean policies and NGOs both discursively and practically construct t'albungmin as different and naturalise them as dependent, with this sense of unequal relations structuring their subsequent relations with South Koreans. I argue that this sense of differentiation reflects a particular mode of governance, which in turn illuminates the workings of citizenship in the South Korean context. I also consider the implications for t'albungmin when supporting them is conceptualised as a humanitarian act. While South Koreans portray their society as a 'community of value' in which t'albungmin are constructed as humanitarian subjects, this thesis illustrates how the narratives of t'albungmin contest this interpretation.

There has been an increase in the number of people migrating around the world in recent decades. The main reasons for this migration are mostly social pressures, conflicts, and wars. With the Arab spring, which showed its effect in the early 2010s, a civil war arose in Syria. With the civil war that had its influence in Syria in 2011, thousands of people had to take shelter in Turkey. With the rapid increase in Syrian refugees who took refuge in Turkey, this issue has become vital in Turkey's agenda. Many studies on the media and the representation of immigrants and refugees show that these groups are often negatively represented. In this research, news about Syrian refugees published in Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, and Sabah newspapers, among the best-selling newspapers in Turkey, are examined. In addition, the fact that the three selected newspapers have different political stances, this situation adds sample diversity to this research. June 2011 - March 2012 and June 2016 - March 2017 constitute the times of the sample. The first time sample represents the early times of both the Syrian Civil war and the arrivals of Syrian refugees in Turkey. In contrast, the second time sample represents the time that Syrian refugees are more integrated into Turkish society and not a new subject for Turkey anymore....

This thesis is about the lives and civic engagements of Afghans in Germany and the UK. It shows how Afghans living in these two countries relate to Afghanistan, and to what extent they engage in transnational action aimed at promoting change there. In particular, it explores the emergence of diasporic communities and how members exercise agency as development actors in Afghanistan. The research rests on a qualitative case study conducted among Afghan populations in Germany and the UK. Semi-structured interviews and participant observation were primary methods of data collection. Relational sociology is used to capture emerging social identities, patterns of social organisation and forms of social engagement. A first notable finding is that Afghan populations abroad are fractured and cannot be seen as a united diaspora. People tend to coalesce in narrowly defined subgroups rather than under a shared national identity. Second, Afghanistan remains a crucial reference point, notwithstanding fragmented social organisation. Home country attachments tend to be tied to a desire for change and development in the country. Third, despite these shared concerns, transnational engagements are typically carried out by small groups and directed towards confined social spheres. Although people may take action in the name of an imagined Afghan community or an imaginary Afghanistan, this imagined community does not provide a basis for social mobilisation. Thus Afghans do not act as a cohesive diaspora. Fourth, transnational engagements are often a response to the specificities of the social environments in which people are embedded, notably their host countries. The findings show that a relational approach can specify how different dimensions of people’s social identities drive social action and are shaped in interaction with various elements of their social context. Such an actor-centred perspective helps to improve our understanding of how members of diasporas come to engage with their countries of origin.

In recent years, the role of diversity has become increasingly important and present – both in society and at the workplace. Diversity, that is any attribute that people might use do distinguish between self and others, is a topic that is visible in several areas and that has challenging implications, both for organizations and for society as a whole. It is a multilevel construct that needs a holistic approach - but so far, most of the research on diversity is limited to the team level, without reflecting on implications for other levels and interactions with other levels of diversity. The first objective of this dissertation is to examine whether approaches of organizational diversity research, namely faultlines, are applicable to the societal level and whether they are useful on this level to explain phenomena of societal relevance. Second, we investigate whether diversity trainings on the team-level can help meet these challenges by teaching useful competencies. And third, we explore whether characteristics on the individual level, namely intrapersonal diversity, enable people to overcome the challenges of diversity which will ultimately also contribute to meet the challenges of diversity on the societal level. On the basis of the combination of findings on diversity at three different levels and the introduced multi-level model, new hypotheses at different levels of analyses can be formulated and subsequently tested.:1. Introduction 2. Core Constructs and Conceptual Clarifications 3. Theoretical Framework 4. Status Quo of Diversity Research 5. Overview of the Research Program 6. Does Social Context Predict Voting for Far-Right Parties? A Study on Societal Faultlines and Voting Behavior in East Germany 7. When Diversity is Something New: Enhancing Diversity Beliefs among Apprentices 8. Intrapersonal Diversity: We Like what we are 9. General Discussion / Diversität hat in den letzten Jahren zunehmend an Bedeutung und Präsenz gewonnen – sowohl in der Gesellschaft als auch am Arbeitsplatz. Diversität, also jedes Merkmal, das Menschen dazu nutzen können, sich selbst als unterschiedlich von anderen Personen wahrzunehmen, ist in vielen Bereichen sichtbar und stellt sowohl für Organisationen als auch für die Gesellschaft als Ganzes eine große Herausforderung dar. Es ist ein Mehrebenen-Konstrukt, das einen ganzheitlichen Ansatz erfordert – die bisherige Forschung zu Diversität beschränkt sich jedoch größtenteils auf die Gruppenebene, ohne Auswirkungen auf oder Interaktionen mit andere Ebenen von Vielfalt zu berücksichtigen. Das erste Ziel dieser Dissertation ist es zu prüfen, ob Ansätze der organisationalen Diversitätsforschung, namentlich Faultlines, auf die gesellschaftliche Ebene übertragbar sind und ob sie auf dieser Ebene nützlich sind, um gesellschaftlich relevante Phänomene zu erklären. Zweitens untersuchen wir, ob Diversitätstrainings auf Gruppenebene helfen können, diese Herausforderungen zu meistern, indem sie nützliche Kompetenzen vermitteln. Und drittens untersuchen wir, ob Eigenschaften auf der individuellen Ebene, namentlich intrapersonelle Diversität, Menschen dazu befähigen, die Herausforderungen von Diversität zu bewältigen, was letztlich auch dazu beitragen wird, den Herausforderungen von Diversität auf gesellschaftlicher Ebene gerecht zu werden. Auf Basis der Kombination von Diversitätserkenntnissen auf drei unterschiedlichen Ebenen und dem vorgestellten Mehrebenen-Modell können neue Hypothesen auf unterschiedlichen Analyseebenen formuliert und anschließend überprüft werden.:1. Introduction 2. Core Constructs and Conceptual Clarifications 3. Theoretical Framework 4. Status Quo of Diversity Research 5. Overview of the Research Program 6. Does Social Context Predict Voting for Far-Right Parties? A Study on Societal Faultlines and Voting Behavior in East Germany 7. When Diversity is Something New: Enhancing Diversity Beliefs among Apprentices 8. Intrapersonal Diversity: We Like what we are 9. General Discussion