Privatization, power and place: the distributive politics of asylum dispersal in England

Alonso, Jose M. and Andrews, Rhys ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1904-9819 2021. Privatization, power and place: the distributive politics of asylum dispersal in England. Regional Studies 55 (3) , pp. 508-520. 10.1080/00343404.2020.1800627

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Download (829kB)

Abstract

We argue that governing parties can use privatization as a political discipline mechanism to reward core constituents and swing voters by diverting unwanted social and economic costs to other places. We test this argument by analysing the dispersal of asylum seekers across English local authorities before and after the Conservative Party-led privatisation of the dispersal system in 2011. Our findings suggest that asylum dispersals to Labour Party “core” constituencies increased following privatization, but that dispersals to “swing” districts were unchanged. Dispersals to places with high institutional capacity decreased, despite contractors being expected to settle asylum seekers in such areas.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
ISSN:	0034-3404
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 July 2020
Date of Acceptance:	8 July 2020
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2023 12:17
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/133405

Citation Data

Cited 3 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item