1 CEASEVAL BLOGS WP 1; 2018 Briefing: Qualitative Analysis of Methods & Concepts of Common European Asylum System Literature by Reinhard Schweitzer, Sussex Centre for Migration Research, University of Sussex Introduction The central aim of the CEASEVAL project is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). In order to advance our knowledge and understanding of the underlying legal and political developments as well as past and future challenges, it has to build on existing empirical and theoretical work. There is already a fast-growing body of literature that not only describes and analyses the apparent failure(s) of the current system but also highlights certain elements of success or at least potential for such. In order to systematically collect, organise, and examine this existing knowledge, the project team based at the University of Sussex is conducting an in-depth review of the relevant literature, primarily focusing on academic work (published since 2000), but also taking into account some of the “grey literature” produced by non-academic organisations. Another recently published briefing paper outlines the strategy and procedures we followed to identify, collect and select the most relevant literature for closer examination 1 . The result of this exercise is a thematically coded online database containing full-text PDF versions of 400 items, including journal articles, book chapters, working and opinion papers, as well as policy reports and evaluations. The aim of the present briefing is to provide an overview of the types of data and methods that previous research on the CEAS has drawn on (section 2); and to summarise the most important arguments and contributions that these studies make in relation to a number of selected themes that are central to the CEASEVAL project (section 3). Analysis of methods Overall, our review suggests that a significant share of what has been written about the CEAS is not systematically based on findings from original empirical research but rather discusses the failure (or partial success) of the current system at a theoretical level. Such work does not engage primarily with existing policy and at worst treats policy in a purely superficial fashion. Our sample of the relevant literature is thereby not limited to studies and reports that explicitly mention the CEAS 2 , but also includes work that more implicitly relates to this topic by highlighting some of the underlying problems or discussing specific issues of implementation that arise at the national or even local level. A significant overall finding of our review was that just about half (55%) of all the analysed literature is based on original empirical research, and much of it makes a largely theoretical 1 See CEASEVAL Deliverable 1.4: Briefing on quantitative literature review 2 Just over 50% of the reviewed literature contains the term “Common European Asylum System” or “CEAS”.
Briefing: Qualitative Analysis of Methods & Concepts of Common European Asylum System Literature
Aug 03, 2023
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