Burden-sharing during refugee emergencies: the logic of collective versus national action

Against the background of increasing restrictions worldwide on asylum in the 1990s, the old idea of ‘burden-sharing’ has been revived and has begun to gain currency. Such schemes are based on the premise that collective action might lead to better and more enduring resolution of crises than unilateral measures by individual nation states. But while such burden- or responsibility-sharing schemes have been developed with some success in sectors such as defence and the environment, achievements in the refugee arena have been much more modest. This paper explores why this should be the case by reviewing some past and current efforts at sharing refugees, and the lessons these experiences might hold for reform of the refugee regime.