An Unfavourable Domestic Context for Asylum Policies

Abstract

This chapter presents the context into which international asylum norms were imported, focusing on two factors which, according to transfer research, shape the effects of transfer attempts: domestic political interests and domestic social norms. In the first three decades after Ukraine’s independence in 1991, the development of asylum policies was hindered by an unfavourable setting. This setting was defined by the history of migration in the Soviet Union and independent Ukraine, the prevailing xenophobia towards “non-traditional” immigrants, and the gradual development of restrictive immigration policies. Moreover, the lack of asylum as a traditional norm in the post-Soviet context and competing political priorities favouring Ukrainian citizens, as well as political ties with some states from the Commonwealth of Independent States meant that domestic interests and normative misfit were likely to hinder the transfer of international asylum norms to Ukraine.