I am happy to announce that a book chapter Sieglinde Rosenberger and I have written on the politicization of asylum seekers and other immigrant groups is now available. The chapter draws on data from the SOM project, and we explore how asylum seekers are politicized in seven Western European countries.
We show that asylum seekers are among the most politicized immigrant groups, despite being only a small group compared to other immigrants. The politicization of asylum seekers was particularly high in the late 1990s. Claims that refer to ‘asylum seekers’ tend to be somewhat more negative than claims that refer to ‘refugees’, even though in practice these claims typically refer to the same people.
Rosenberger, Sieglinde, and Didier Ruedin. 2017. ‘The Politicization of Asylum Seekers and Other Immigrant Groups in a Comparative Perspective’. In Asylrecht Als Experimentierfeld: Eine Analyse Seiner Besonderheiten Aus Vergleichender Sicht, edited by Franz Merli and Magdalena Pöschl, 13–26. Wien: Verlag Manz.
Didier Ruedin 