The Invention of Safe Countries

Not only people are mobile, also policies are on the move. The movement of policies is studied by diffusion researchers who shed light on the process by which policies in one country influence policies in other countries. Yet despite the great attention in global migration governance, only few scholars have applied a policy diffusion lens to study the spread of asylum policies globally. In this Working Paper, I strive to shed light on the patterns and motivations in the diffusion of Safe Country Policies to all world regions. To this end, I present the original dataset SACOP that provides systematic information on the adoption of Safe Country Policies in 195 countries from 1951 until 2020. These policies are powerful instruments in asylum law as they reduce the responsibility of states towards asylum seekers by limiting the access to or the safeguards within asylum procedures. In my analysis, I find that Safe Country Policies have not only become a widely-used policy tool in the Global North, but are increasingly adopted by countries in the Global South as well. The findings imply the need for extending the academic discussion on the development of asylum policy and state responsibility beyond its geographical limitation on the Global North and may signal the beginning of substantial changes in the context and conditions of the world region that hosts most displaced people.