38 research outputs found
Complexity reduction and policy consensus: asylum seekers, the right to work, and the âpull factorâ thesis in the UK context
Since the early 2000s, asylum policy in Western states has become increasingly dominated by the
concept of the âpull factorââthe idea that the economic rights afforded to asylum seekers can
act as a migratory pull, and will have a bearing on the numbers of asylum applications received.
The pull factor thesis has been widely discredited by researchers but remains powerful among
policymakers. Through an analysis of the pull factor in the UK context, and drawing on insights
from Cultural Political Economy, this article argues that the hegemony of the pull factor thesis is
best understood as a âpolicy imaginaryâ which has become sedimented through both discursive
and extra-discursive practices and processes. The article offers a means of understanding how
a common sense assumptionâwhich is challenged by a large body of evidenceâhas come to
dominate policymaking in a key area of concern for politicians and policymakers
Troubling the exclusive privileges of citizenship: mobile solidarities, asylum seekers, and the right to work
This article discusses asylum seekers and the right to work in the UK. Differential access to the labour market is one of the ways in which the state maintains a distinction between British citizens, who âbelongâ, and non-citizens who do not. While such a policy approach garners widespread support amongst the general public of citizens, it does not go uncontested. This article discusses a UK-based campaign, âLet Them Workâ, which has sought to influence the government in extending the right to work to asylum seekers. In doing so, it demonstrates the ways in which the stratified regime of citizenship rights is contested politically, and explores how such contestation troubles the exclusive privileges of citizenship by enacting mobile solidarities from marginalised spaces
âBig Brother welcomes youâ: exploring innovative methods for research with children and young people outside of the home and school environments.
This article discusses some of the challenges involved in conducting research with children and young people outside of the home and school environments. We respond to the need to develop new child-centred research techniques which move beyond existing power relations among children and adults by anchoring our approach in the idea of mystery. The paper reports on research utilising a mixed-method design which includes one new technique â the Big Brother diary room. We discuss the unpredictable nature of the fieldwork, reflect on the âmessinessâ of the research process, and critically evaluate our own research design
âTo be oneâs own bossâ:Exceptional entrepreneurs and products that sell themselves in urban Poland
From Big Society to Shared Society? Geographies of social cohesion and encounter in the UKâs National Citizen Service
This article explores and expands debates on the geographies of social cohesion and encounter, specifically in relation to young people and informal citizenship training. Three questions drive our agenda in this paper. First, how do certain youth spaces get enrolled into wider political discourses, functioning as geographical expressions of government visions to create a political legacy? Second, how are these spaces engineered and operate on-the-ground? Finally, how do young people understand their experiences of such spaces? To address these questions, we use the example of âNational Citizen Serviceâ â a youth programme operating in England and Northern Ireland â to raise critical questions about the wider politics of spaces of informal education and attempts by the state to âmakeâ citizens and future neighbours. The article examines the rationale for this growing scheme, targeted at 15â17 year olds and designed to foster a âmore cohesive, responsible and engaged societyâ. Drawing on original fieldwork with key architects, stakeholders and young people, we analyse the narratives that underlie NCS and its expansion â specifically around social cohesion and citizenship education. We explore the idea of âsocial mixâ as one of NCSâ guiding principles and its place as part of state narratives about the âBig Societyâ and âShared Societyâ
âOtherâ Posts in âOtherâ Places: Poland through a Postcolonial Lens?
Postcolonial theory has tended to focus on those spaces where European colonialism has had a territorial and political history. This is unsurprising, as much of the world is in this sense âpostcolonialâ. But not all of it. This article focuses on Poland, often theorised as peripheral to âold Europeâ, and explores the application of postcolonial analyses to this âotherâ place. The article draws upon reflections arising from a study of responses to ethnic diversity in Warsaw, Poland. In doing so we conclude that postcolonialism does indeed offer some important insights into understanding Polish attitudes to other nationalities, and yet more work also needs to be done to make the theoretical bridge. In the case of Poland we propose the âtriple relationâ be the starting point for such work
dispersal and reception in northern italy comparing systems along the brenner route
In the last decades, policy restrictions and practices at national and local levels have curtailed the rights of seekers and holders of international protection, thus impacting on their lives and on the territories they transit through. This is particularly evident in border contexts. Various border areas have gradually transformed into internal hotspots, with increasing border enforcement. This includes Brenner, situated at the border between Italy and Austria. In the wider Brenner route area, particularly in the nearby Italian cities of Verona, Trento and Bolzano, "spaces of transit" have emerged and both public and humanitarian actors have been "forced" to deal with it. This chapter draws upon the work of the multilevel governance of migration (Caponio and Borkert 2010), and on the proliferation of borders (Mezzadra and Neilson 2016), to present a comparative analysis of the reception scenario in these three cities. By building on qualitative data analysis (legal analysis of policy documents, content analysis of interviews and newspaper articles), it discusses to what extent and how the respective local systems of reception have managed to cater for migrants that transit through them. Similarities and differences are pointed out, as well as the relevance of factors such as geographical proximity in influencing the respective approaches
Education for sustainability in higher education; Early Childhood Studies as a site for provocation, collaboration and inquiry
Fifteen years after they were created, the UNâs Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have reached their expiration date. The United Nations asserts that surveys conducted in September 2015 suggested that only 4% of the UK public had heard of the MDGâs. The renewed focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer opportunities for higher education institutions (HEIs) to work alongside students to create a shared and contextualised awareness of sustainable development within Early Childhood Education. This aim is pertinent for those students studying Early Childhood Studies (ECS) degrees with the potential goal of working with babies, young children and their families. The research was situated within a paradigm of critical educational research to establish a shared understanding of sustainable development within a newly validated BA (Hons) ECS programme at a HEI in the Northwest of England. Visual provocations were used as a pedagogical intervention to present a disorientating dilemma, critical reflection on personal perspective and an examination of world views. Findings suggested that visual methodologies supported students to appreciate the ambiguity and contested limits of knowledge, and to draw upon wider sources related to moral and ethical principles and to established rights and responsibilities