The European Union in the Global Refugee Regime: A Political Economic Approach to the Humanitarian-Development Nexus

This project examines the role of the European Union (EU)
in promoting new technologies for aid and displacement
management in the global refugee regime. It presents a
study of how the EU has helped mainstream the "nexus
model"-a model that calls for strengthened coherence
between humanitarian and development aid-as part of its
response to the so-called Syrian refugee crisis. In doing so,
I explore to what extent and through what processes the
nexus model has been used to navigate and promote EU
political and economic interests in a multi-stakeholder
environment. I take Jordan and Lebanon as two initial case
studies, using discourse analysis and process-tracing to
interpret qualitative data. The project contributes to
nascent scholarship in international political economy and
critical refugee studies on the humanitarian-development
nexus by highlighting the key role played by the EU in
driving contemporary policy developments, while
simultaneously showing how EU engagement is shaped by
its interactions with other key stakeholders. By situating
the nexus model in a critical political economy framework,
I argue that we can better understand the interests such an
approach serves more broadly and how it affects refugee
beneficiaries specifically.
16 Research Project Proposal At a time when over three-quarters (ca. 15.7 million) of the
global refugee population are in a protracted situation
(UNHCR 2019), the nexus model has been framed as a key
strategy to manage displacement. Building on previous
models such as "Linking Relief, Rehabilitation, and
Development" (LRRD), the nexus model can be defined as
an attempt at "strengthening collaboration, coherence, and
complementarity" of humanitarian and development
actions through shared involvement of public, private, and
third sector actors (OECD-DAC 2020, 6). In theory, the
nexus model has been framed as a "win-win" solution to
refugee crises, promising to support not just refugees, but
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also host governments, the private sector, and the
extended international community (Soederberg and
Tawakkul 2020). In practice, however, scholars have noted
divergent benefits, with some-like donors and private
actors-reaping a higher reward than others-like refugees
(Burlin 2019; Zetter 2019; Anolt and Sinatti 2018; Arar
2017).
Insights from IPE scholarship can help explain the stratified
impact of the nexus model. As critical political economists
have argued, the allocation of international aid should not
solely be interpreted as a response to humanitarian and
development needs, but also-and some would say more
importantly-geopolitical and economic interests (e.g.
Bermeo 2017; McLean 2014; Lundsgaarde, Breunig and
Prakash 2010; Kilby 2009). In this regard, previous studies
on the humanitarian-development nexus have highlighted
the important role of the EU in contributing to the design
and implementation of the nexus model, particularly in
forced displacement contexts (Burlin 2019; Anholt and
Sinatti 2018). EU engagement with the nexus approach has
taken multiple forms, including the adoption of policy
frameworks such as the 2016 EU-Jordan Compact, the 2016
EU-Lebanon Compact, and the 2018 Ethiopia Job Compact,
as well as through the development of financial
instruments like the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to
the Syrian Crisis and the EU Emergency Trust Fund for
Africa. Overall, the EU has described the nexus approach as
"a shared vision in the EU" (ECHO 2020).
Against this backdrop, this project thus asks: how has EU
engagement influenced the design and implementation of
the nexus model? In answering this question, I will explore
how the nexus approach has been used to navigate and
promote EU political and economic interests.