A New Asylum Paradigm? Globalisation, Migration and the Uncertain Future of the International Refugee Regime

'Stop the asylum invasion.' 'New shambles over asylum.' 'Poison gang are asylum seekers.' 'Asylum blamed for AIDS crisis.' 'Asylum threat to house prices.' These are a few of the front page headlines that have appeared in British newspapers during the past year. As these headlines demonstrate, in recent times we have witnessed an extraordinary (and extraordinarily successful) effort on the part of the press, supported by certain pressure groups and politicians, to convince the British public that the majority of asylum seekers are cheats, criminals and charlatans. Some commentators have suggested, somewhat naively, that the current challenge to asylum in the United Kingdom is simply a result of the competition for newspaper sales, and that it has no deeper social or political significance. This article presents a different argument, suggesting that recent developments in UK refugee and asylum policy are a manifestation of much broader and deeper trends, that are providing an important challenge to the international refugee protection regime.