ASYPOL THE CONTENTIOUS POLITICS OF ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION IN BRITAIN AND EUROPE An Economic and Social Research Council Project - R000239221. Started in 2001, the ASYPOL is completed. It was awarded the highest 'Outstanding' rating by the ESRC in April 2005. The final report of the project submitted to the ESRC can be downloaded in pdf format here: ASYPOL_Report1.pdf Inspired in part by the five-country comparative research project Mobilisation over Ethnic Relations, Citizenship and Immigration (MERCI) project, the research investigated asylum politics in Britain and Europe by mapping the field of political contention through original longitudinal (1992-2002), and cross-national (UK, F, CH, D, NL) data. The British study examined the relationship between elite decision-making and public campaigns by the media, political parties, and pro- and anti-asylum movements, through in-depth interviews with the principal actors and analyses of their campaigns. Focus groups with different sections of the general public (by age, gender, ethnicity) were conducted to determine how public opinions matched or differed from official policy and campaign positions. The cross-national study inquired into the possible 'Europeanisation' of asylum politics. ****************************************************************** Event A one day Conference at the University of Leeds, on the subject of 'Asylum Today in Britain and Europe - an institutional, public and lived issue' was held on 29 October 2004. The conference was hosted by EurPolCom and the Jean Monnet European Centre for Excellence. The final conference programme is available for download: Word format final_programme.doc PDF format final_programme.pdf ******************************************************************* For publications see Paul Statham s publications plus the working paper series For further information contact Paul Statham