Entangled Asylum in the Nordic Region - (Global Migration and Social Change) by Sarah Scott Ford (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

What happens when international human rights norms confront the practical realities of asylum decision-making?

This book offers a bold examination of how institutional dynamics and human rights oversight shape the intricate mechanisms behind asylum adjudication. By framing asylum law as an 'entangled regime', the author uncovers how national decision-makers interpret, apply, and contest norms of national, international, and institutional origin, offering invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of migrants' rights.

Through this socio-legal lens, it focuses on the Nordic countries - a region with a long history of compliance but increasingly marked by anti-immigrant politics and policy experimentation. As political pressures bear down against decades of rights-focused legal consolidation, a critical testing ground emerges where international law faces some of its most rigorous challenges.

Review Quotes

"Studies of asylum law and politics too often focus on just one country, one decision-making body or just look at legal opinions. In contrast, Sarah Scott Ford's excellent book gives us a truly comparative and holistic study of asylum law in the Nordic region, explaining in rich detail how domestic actors translate and co-produce international law within their institutional contexts. While the Nordic states are unique in certain ways, Ford's concept of entanglement gives scholars of asylum law and politics a powerful comparative tool which can be applied in other jurisdictions and will enable further much-needed comparative work in the field. This work is an important contribution and a must-read." Rebecca Hamlin, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

About the Author