Nijhoff Studies in European Union Law Assessing the Common Asylum System

This book analyses the degree to which street-level bureaucrats can use the discretionary powers given to them to influence the outcome of asylum decisions in the European Union. How much discretion do bureaucrats have when deciding who gets refugee status? Where does the boundary between law and practice lie when it comes to asylum in the European Union? In this book, you will find answers to these questions in an exploration of the decision-making context in which policy implementors conduct their work and turn policies into practice. Drawing from the insights of street-level bureaucracy and role-conflict theory, a better understanding is given of how decisions are made by policy implementers in situations of incomplete information or ambiguous policy vision and guidance.