The Decay of the International Refugee Regime

• In Event: Growth and Decay of International Institutions

Abstract

When and why do international regimes decay? Existing literature on regimes has focused on regime formation and the effects of regimes, but little research exists on regime decline or decay. In this paper, I seek to understand regime decay through an examination of the international refugee regime. Scholars have argued that the international refugee regime is “broken”, “fragmentary”, and “in decline”. However, unlike IPE research on monetary and environmental regimes, no research exists that defines the refugee regime and quantitatively measures its formation, growth, and decay. This study provides the first comprehensive dataset on the refugee regime, tracking its dual mandate of providing asylum and encouraging “burden sharing” using data from the United Nations, archival research, and text analysis of news articles. It then uses this data to test multiple hypotheses explaining the regime’s decay. As the number of forcibly displaced people continues to rise, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the world’s acute cooperation failure on refugee issues.

Author

• Mae MacDonald, Stanford University