362.1
The Role of Asylum Related Organisations and Their Cooperation Networks at the Mediterranean Borders in the Context of the Common European Asylum System
“The role of asylum related organisations and their cooperation networks at the Mediterranean borders in the context of the Common European Asylum System”
by Anna Gansbergen (Ruhr-University Bochum)
to the session “The Mediterranean Refugee Disaster and the EU”
at the ISA conference 2016
A lot of boat people die on their way to Europe in the Mediterranean – the most dangerous see of the world. But which collective actors are involved in this process of the flight migration? Who can influence the asylum related situation and prevent the refugee disaster? In how far they cooperate with each other and which role do they play in this context? The teaching research project MAREM “Mapping refugees´ arrivals at Mediterranean borders” which is running at the Ruhr-University Bochum from 2013 till 2016 is dealing with these issues.
In the planned presentation the results of MAREM will be shown and commented. Some of the main questions of the project will be answered from the scientific perspective: Is there a European Asylum System in the making? Which role do asylum related organisations and their cooperation play in this context and for the explanation of the gap between “talk” and “action”? The empirical results are based on document analysis and 100 expert interviews with the members of asylum related NGOs, state agencies, scientific and international organisations in Italy, Spain, Malta, Greece and Cyprus. It will be discussed in how far an analysis of the ego-centered networks of organisations in selected European countries can contribute to the understanding of the asylum related situation in the Mediterranean area. Multilevel institutionalist collective actor approach will be connected with the network analysis with the aim to answer the research questions mentioned above from the perspective of the sociology of migration.