Are Non-Majoritarian Institutions the Life Buoys of Refugee Protection? A Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Analysis of Refugee Status Determination Decisions

Non-majoritarian institutions such as courts or technocratic agencies have been demonstrated to act as liberal constraints on policy-making., safeguarding migrants' rights against populist pressures for restrictions. Yet, so far there have not been studies to explore the impact of non-majoritarian institutions in the implementation of asylum and refugee policies, in particular when decisions are taken on whether an asylum seeker deserves protection status or not. There is ample of evidence that shows that refugee recognition rates vary widely among countries, over time and between first instance and appeal decisions. This paper seeks to explore to what extent such variation can be accounted for by the relative insulation of decision-makers from populist pressures. This paper will use an original large-N quantitative dataset on the recognition rates of first and second instance refugee determination decisions across Europe (dependent variable) and assess a number of independent variables, including the degree of administrative and judicial independence.