How a Policy Network Matters for Refugee Protection

A Case Study of Japan’s Refugee Resettlement Programme

Bibliographic Data

ID12333346
AuthorsJunichi Akashi (corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume40
Issue3
Pages249-270
Publication date2021-01-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRefugee Survey Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1020-4067 • E-ISSN: 1471-695X
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/rsq/hdab001
OpenAlexW3173953329
LanguageEN
Citations received2

In 2010, Japan became the first Asian country to launch a refugee resettlement programme. The programme continues today, and the government expanded the scheme to accept more refugees through the resettlement channel in 2020. How Japan, a country known for its reluctance to accept refugees, has strengthened its commitment to its refugee resettlement programme has been insufficiently investigated. Based on surveys of literature that mainly involved primary resources and interviews with key stakeholders of the programmes, this study reveals that the development of a policy network that mediates local constraints on refugee protection processes is a key determinant of the state’s capability to accept refugees as well as how well the refugee protection programme functions. Retracing the decade-long history of Japan’s resettlement programme, this study argues that the performance of the programme has hinged on local actors and in part on a non-governmental organisation that acts as an intermediary between the state and municipalities, whereas institutional settings in Japan remain the greatest hindrance to the effective participation of NGOs in national humanitarian initiatives

Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics · Political science · Refugee · State (computer science · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Socioeconomic Development in Asia · Law · Public Administration

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