The European Union and Arab Refugee Hosting States: Frictional Encounters

From the introduction: This working paper contributes to the debate on the EU’s external refugee governance approach in the wake of displacement from Syria, and unpacks its implications for regional refugee protection and power dynamics in the broader Euro-Mediterranean space. Adopting a relational perspective, it sets out to explore how mass displacement has shaped EU external refugee policy in its “immediate neighborhood†, and how some Arab refugee hosting states have, in turn, received, contested, and reconfigured EU refugee tools. More specifically, the working paper argues that the EU has sought to consolidate its role as a transregional governor of refugee movements in Syria’s neighboring host countries (hereafter Syria’s neighborhood). In practice, however, its “processes of governance†have clashed with Arab refugee hosting states’ interests and legacies. They have also yielded contested effectiveness for refugee protection.