Gated Haven: Organized Hypocrisy and EU Asylum Policy

by

Assoc. Prof. Michael Lipson

Department of Political Science

Concordia University

Date: 07.06.2018

Time: 15:00

Place: İB 102

Abstract
The European Union espouses a strong commitment to liberal values and international law, including the rights of refugees. Yet while proclaiming in its foundational treaties and political discourse a commitment to refugee rights, the EU has developed over the past thirty years a set of rules and practices designed to exclude refugees and asylum-seekers from its territory. This discrepancy constitutes “organized hypocrisy,” or inconsistent rhetoric and behavior responding to conflicting demands. While existing scholarship on organized hypocrisy in international relations has identified variants of the concept rooted in state power and international norms, an alternative basis of organized hypocrisy derived from liberal international relations theory helps to explain paradoxical European responses to recent migrant flows.

Bio
Michael Lipson is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has taught at the University of Colorado-Boulder, University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton University. His research interests include international institutions, international security, nonproliferation regimes, and United Nations peacekeeping. He teaches courses on international politics, international organizations, organization theory, and American foreign policy.