Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T08:15:18.547Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Host State Engagement in the Middle East and North Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2020

Kelsey P. Norman
Affiliation:
Rice University, Houston
Get access

Summary

Chapter 2 elaborates the three-pronged argument of this book. First, classifications in the existing literature tend to describe engagement in a dichotomous manner—states are either inclusionary or exclusionary toward migrants and refugees—leaving no room for the possibility of state indifference as a policy choice by itself. Instead, this book argues that host states have three affirmative policy options: liberalism, repression, and indifference. A policy of indifference means that a host state refrains from directly engaging with or providing services to migrants and refugees and instead relies on international organizations and NGOs to carry out engagement on its behalf, which has tangential benefits for the host state. Second, while state capacity is one factor that should be considered in seeking to understand state decision making, geostrategic imperatives and international perceptions drive engagement decisions at least as much as the capacity of each host state. Third, when indifference becomes an untenable strategy a state will adopt a more liberal engagement policy in order to avoid international shaming or if there are diplomatic or economic benefits from doing so, or may turn to a repressive policy if migrant and refugee groups are deemed a security threat.

Type
Chapter
Information
Reluctant Reception
Refugees, Migration and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa
, pp. 21 - 42
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×