My goal for the small-n case study is to examine the result of the local refugee integration programs following the 2015 refugee wave using the “indepthness” of the program as my dependent variable. I would operationalize this variable through the use of the UK’s Home Office’s “Indicators of Integration”[1] which draws many of its points from the Council of Europe’s “Measurement and indicators of integration.”[2] Specifically, the factors I would look at to determine the program indepthness are access to employment, housing, education, and health services as well as refugee language acquisition and the government programs dedicated to this gal, additionally, refugee social connections with the local population and refugees’ rights and their path to permanent residency or citizenship. I would explore countries refugee laws and policies to help operationalize the D.V. For this operationalization, I would access the presence or absence of these refugee programs and services and, if present, the level of the program (low/moderate/high). Similar to Lise Howard’s article and operationalization, I would ask several questions of the different variables to determine the level which the variable is ranked for the individual case.[3]
Two countries I am currently thinking about for this small-n research are Sweden and Germany because Germany took in the highest number of refugees and Sweden took in the highest number of refugees per capita and both countries had welcoming stances towards the refugee influx at the onset of the 2015 wave.[4] I will use the countries’ official laws and policies[5] [6] as well as independent research and reports like the Migration Policy Institution’s.[7] [8] If I wanted to do a larger small-n project, this topic would also lend itself well to more of a typology like the one referenced in the lecturelet[9] in which I look at the top ten EU nations which received refugees following the 2015 wave[10] and the different factors which lead to the success/failure of their programs.
[1] Alastair Ager and Alison Strang, “Indicators of Integration: final report,” Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, Development and Practice Report 28, (2004), accessed 3 October 2018.
[2] “Measurement and indicators of integration,” Council of Europe, accessed 26 October 2018, https://www.coe.int/t/dg3/migration/archives/documentation/Series_Community_Relations/Measurement_indicators_integration_en.pdf; Thomas Huddleston, Jan Niessen and Jasper Dag Tjaden, “Using EU Indicators of Immigrant Integration,” report for the European Commission, (March 2013), accessed 27 October 2018, https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/e-library/documents/policies/legal-migration/general/docs/final_report_on_using_eu_indicators_of_immigrant_integration_june_2013_en.pdf
[3] Lise Morjé Howard, “UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars,” Cambridge University Press, (2007): 347-357.
[4] Joshua Keating, ”Even Germany and Sweden Are Cracking Down on Refugees Now,” Slate.com, (published 31 December 2015), accessed 27 October 2018, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/12/even-germany-and-sweden-are-cracking-down-on-refugees-now.html
[5] “Refugee Law and Policy: Germany,” Library of Congress, (last updated 21 June 2016), accessed 26 October 2018, https://www.loc.gov/law/help/refugee-law/germany.php
[6] “Refugee Law and Policy: Sweden,” Library of Congress, (last updated 21 June 2016), accessed 26 October 2018, https://www.loc.gov/law/help/refugee-law/sweden.php
[7] Susan Fratzke, “Weathering Crisis Forging Ahead: Swedish Asylum and Integration Policy,” Migration Policy Institute, (June 2017), accessed 27 October 2018, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/weathering-crisis-forging-ahead-swedish-asylum-and-integration-policy
[8] Patrick Joyce, “Newcomers in the North: Labor Market Integration of Refugees in Northern Europe,” Migration Policy Institute, (27 February 2018), accessed 26 October 2018, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/newcomers-north-labor-market-integration-refugees-northern-europe
[9] Aaron Boesenecker, “Making Comparisons,” SIS, (Fall 2017), accessed 24 October 2018.
[10] “Migration to Europe in Charts,” BBC, (11 September 2018), accessed 27 October 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44660699
Hi Phoebe! I think this sounds like an interesting small-n research project, although if you wanted to have more variation on the DV in terms of cases, it would make sense to include a country with a refugee program that is “low” indepthness–perhaps Hungary? I can see what you are going for with using Germany and Sweden–a “most likely case” selection of sorts–but I think the results would be more interesting if you include a “failure” case.
On another note, harkening back to what I read of your large-n research, I think it could be interesting to explore the impact the rise of right-wing movements has had on this integration on a case basis. One suggestion for this could be to examine refugee integration “indepthness” in Great Britain before and after the Brexit vote.
Phoebe — you have a good start in conceptualizing and operationalizing your DV here, and your preliminary thoughts on potential cases are good as well (though Alexia offers a very good suggestion to keep in mind as you think about satisfying the criteria of control and variation). For the two cases that you have tentatively identified, what values would the DV take in those cases? Do those values allow for variation as needed for your analysis?