RESPOND Project

Multilevel Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond An EU Horizon 2020 Research Project

With the goal of enhancing the governance capacity and policy coherence of the EU, its member states and neighbours, RESPOND is a comprehensive study of responses to the 2015 Refugee Crisis. Representing one of the biggest challenges that the EU has faced since its establishment, this crisis foregrounded the vulnerability of European borders, the tenuous jurisdiction of the Schengen system and broad problems with the governance of migration and integration.

One of the most visible impacts of the refugee crisis is the polarization of politics in EU Member States and intra-Member State policy (in)coherence in responding to the crisis. In this context, RESPOND brings together 14 partners to:

• provide an in-depth understanding of the governance of recent mass migration at macro, meso and micro levels through cross-country comparative research;
• critically analyse governance practices with the aim of enhancing the migration governance capacity and policy coherence of the EU, its member states and third countries.

The project studies migration governance along five thematic fields: (1) Border management and security, (2) Refugee protection regimes, (3) Reception policies, (4) Integration policies, and (5) Conflicting Europeanization. To explore all of these dimensions, RESPOND employs a truly interdisciplinary approach, using legal and policy analysis, comparative historical analysis, political claims analysis, socio-economic and cultural analysis, longitudinal survey analysis, interview based analysis, and photovoice techniques.

RESPOND’s focus is the Eastern Mediterranean route, especially the mass migration triggered by the Syrian Civil War from 2011 onward. The source countries we study are Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The transit countries we study are Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, Italy, Poland, and Hungary. And, the destination countries we study are Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Austria. Although the main focus of this project will be on the Eastern Mediterranean Route, in order to deepen our comparative understanding the project will also look at the Western and Central Mediterranean Routes through macro level analysis of the Sub-Saharan Region countries, in particular Morocco and Libya, as well as the North- Eastern borders of the EU through Ukrainian migration to Poland. All of these routes and relevant third countries are important for the governance of migration and EU external policy.

RESPOND is coordinated by UPPSALA UNIVERSITET (Sweden). In addition to Özyeğin University, the project’s consortium partners include: GLASGOW CALEDONIAN UNIVERSITY (United Kingdom), GEORG-AUGUST-UNIVERSITAT GOTTINGEN STIFTUNG OFFENTLICHEN RECHTS (Germany), THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (United Kingdom), ISTANBUL BILGI UNIVERSITESI (Turkey), SWEDISH RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN ISTANBUL (Sweden), UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE (Italy), PANEPISTIMIO AIGAIOU (Greece), OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN (Austria), UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI (Poland), KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET (Denmark), Lebanon Support (Lebanon), The Hammurabi Human Rights Organization (Iraq). Assistant Professor Dr. Susan Beth Rottmann is the Primary Investigator for RESPOND at Özyeğin University. Dr. Rottmann will conduct research on migrant integration, citizenship, belonging and gender and will contribute to the impact of the research through creating the project blog and newsletters and a documentary film and through co-organizing scientific conferences. Dr. Rottmann will also work with the Primary Investigators from Istanbul Bilgi University and the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul to study the socio-legal dimensions of migration, reception and protection and to develop best practices for migration governance in Turkey.

Project Start Date: December 2017
Project End Date: December 2020
Website: https://respondmigration.com/
Information: Susan Beth Rottmann / susan.rottmann@ozyegin.edu.tr