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Title: Why do civil society organisations working on international protection tend to have positive dispositions towards refugees? A macro-level opportunity structure model

Authors: Simon Usherwood; Alia Middleton; Carmen Caruso

Addresses: Department of Politics and International Studies, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK ' Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK ' Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK

Abstract: Studies of civil society organisations (CSOs) working on international protection related issues have typically focused on those positively disposed towards refugees, without asking either whether this is the full range of dispositions in CSOs or why negatively disposed individuals appear not to mobilise in the same way. Using a novel survey of CSOs in Europe we show that most have positive dispositions, explained by attitudes towards international protection, which incentivises such organisational forms. By contrast, those with negative dispositions are incentivised to focus their efforts on the party-political sphere, to regulate public policy to limit international protection.

Keywords: civil society organisations; CSOs; refugees; international protection; opportunity structures; attitudes; party politics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMBS.2024.142330

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 2024 Vol.8 No.5, pp.1 - 19

Received: 20 Nov 2023
Accepted: 22 Aug 2024
Published online: 21 Oct 2024 *