TY - JOUR

T1 - Escaping Populism – Safeguarding Minority Rights

T2 - Non-majoritarian Dynamics in European Policy-making

AU - Thielemann, Eiko

AU - Zaun, Natascha

N1 - Funding Information: * The authors would like to thank three anonymous referees for their valuable comments. This research was funded by Eidgenössisches Departement für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 University Association for Contemporary European Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

PY - 2018/5

Y1 - 2018/5

N2 - Contrary to earlier predictions, communitarization in the area of asylum policies has not led to an erosion of refugee rights. Instead, there is growing evidence that EU asylum harmonization has safeguarded existing standards and even enhanced the rights of asylum-seekers and refugees in Europe. We seek to explain this by building on the insights of principal-agent theory. We argue that delegation to supranational institutions can strengthen non-majoritarian policy dynamics and shield EU policy-makers from populist pressures for further immigration restrictions that national governments are often confronted with. We support this argument empirically through a systematic longitudinal analysis of the evolution of EU asylum policies. In particular, we seek to assess the motivation for and impact of greater delegation to EU institutions on rights developments for asylum-seekers and refugees. We also explain to what extent EU policy-making has changed with the EU's response to the ‘Syrian refugee crisis’.

AB - Contrary to earlier predictions, communitarization in the area of asylum policies has not led to an erosion of refugee rights. Instead, there is growing evidence that EU asylum harmonization has safeguarded existing standards and even enhanced the rights of asylum-seekers and refugees in Europe. We seek to explain this by building on the insights of principal-agent theory. We argue that delegation to supranational institutions can strengthen non-majoritarian policy dynamics and shield EU policy-makers from populist pressures for further immigration restrictions that national governments are often confronted with. We support this argument empirically through a systematic longitudinal analysis of the evolution of EU asylum policies. In particular, we seek to assess the motivation for and impact of greater delegation to EU institutions on rights developments for asylum-seekers and refugees. We also explain to what extent EU policy-making has changed with the EU's response to the ‘Syrian refugee crisis’.

KW - asylum

KW - European Union institutions

KW - justice and home affairs

KW - minority rights

KW - populism

KW - principal-agent theory

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046664762&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jcms.12689

DO - 10.1111/jcms.12689

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85046664762

VL - 56

SP - 906

EP - 922

JO - Journal of Common Market Studies

JF - Journal of Common Market Studies

SN - 0021-9886

IS - 4

ER -