Managing Asylum and European Integration: Expanding Spheres of Exclusion?

During the last decade, the European Union intensified its efforts to define its external borders in conjunction with its efforts to evolve into a coherent, frontier‐free political territory. European policy‐makers slowly shaped new norms and rules pertaining to asylum, with increasingly stronger mechanisms to enforce the policy decisions. In the case of asylum and refugee protection, Europe's efforts are nested in the broad global institutional framework negotiated through and carried out by international organizations. However, these developments raise the specter of deteriorating refugee protection in Europe and beyond. This article reviews the norms and rules on which the post–World War II refugee protection regime rests and then points to the recent developments in refugee protection in Europe, which might undermine the goals of the global refugee protection.