NGO Refugee Responses in a Time of Rising Populist-Nationalism
Brysk, Alison
2019
Brysk, Alison
2019
This thesis seeks to address two main issues. First, how have the recent rise of populist-nationalism and the elections of populist-nationalist governments challenged the international refugee rights regime? Second, how have humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) responded to new anti-refugee policies, and what does this mean for their position within civil society? To answer these questions, this project offers a comparative study between the United States under the administration of President Donald Trump and Italy under the administration of Deputy Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini. By analyzing government and NGO policies for both cases in response to the European refugee crisis and the rise of asylum-seekers from Central America, this thesis concludes that humanitarian NGOs have undergone fundamental shifts in operations in response to these populist-nationalist administrations and their undermining of the refugee rights regime. Among these changes include the increasing fulfillment of refugee rights obligations by humanitarian NGOs themselves in place of the national government and a turn away from political neutrality within humanitarian organizations. This paper concludes by discussing what policy changes should be made at the international, state, and NGO level in order to best protect refugee rights and NGO operations