Welcome or Not Welcome? Investigating the Causes of Host Countries' Receptivity to Refugees

Despite the increase of forced migrants in recent years and growing concern with their treatment, surprisingly few serious quantitative studies have been conducted on the factors that make countries more or less receptive to refugees. This study analyzes several variables for their effect on levels of policy receptiveness toward refugees. The results indicate that perceived levels of political stability had a reliable and strong positive effect on levels of refugee inclusion. Interestingly, level of education had a weaker inverse relationship with refugee inclusion. Thus, the more that a country’s population felt that their government was politically stable (e.g., not at risk of overthrow) the more open their policies toward refugees were. However, albeit to a lesser extent, the more educated a country was, the more restrictive its policies were.Though further empirical research on this question is clearly needed, these initial findings suggest that the international community’s efforts to find durable solutions for refugees are entwined with efforts to promote stability within host countries. Thus, helping reduce internal tensions within countries may not only help avoid conflicts that contribute to the world’s refugee population but may also help cultivate new homelands for refugees.