Comparative Reception Policy Typology

In this comparative report we develop a typology of reception governance, which allows for a country comparative perspective on reception measures for refugees. The term “reception governance” is to comprise both reception policies (i.e. a system of principles to guide decisions), decision-making and actual practices. The main rationale for the construction of the typology is that reception governance does not constitute a policy field or domain on its own, but crosscuts both classical policy domains (such as social policy, immigration policy, economic and labour policy) and various levels of governance (such as inter- and supranational, national, federal and municipal). The report is based on a based on a meta-analysis of 11 national reports on reception policies and practice from countries along the so-called Eastern Mediterranean Route. It comprises established EU member states, such as Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom (before Brexit), more recent member states, such as Hungary and Poland, and third countries, such as Turkey, Lebanon and the Iraq, which have played an important role as source and transit countries of refugees. Based on country-by-country pair comparisons we identified five major types of reception governance which are presented in the order of declining state intervention: "Wary Hospitality", "Post-Communist Reluctance", "Ordo-liberal Delegation", "Overload and Externalization", and "Residual Patronage"