Final PhD presentation

Applications for asylum in the European Union (EU) are managed under a regulatory framework known as the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). This system is agreed by EU Member States at a supranational level but is implemented nationally. New applications for asylum in the EU surged in 2014 driven by the Syrian crisis, reaching over 1.3 million by 2015, testing the capacities of the CEAS framework.

Andrew’s PhD research conducts a comparative investigation into normative tensions among institutional and civil society actors influencing the EU CEAS system, between the EU seeking to regulate the detention and management of asylum seekers against the backdrop of international law, and the transposition of the supranational rules into law and policy in implementing Member States.

Qualitative analysis of the fieldwork data suggests that supranational institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations may need to seek a more coherent supranational cross-border model of civil society advocacy in relation to the CEAS, in order to achieve greater convergence in the implementation of common rules at the national level within EU Member States.

Select examples from the fieldwork and analysis will be provided in the presentation.