Decentralized asylum policy discriminates: A comparision of asylum recognition rates in the federal states of Germany

This article examines whether the asylum recognition rates differ in the German federal states, despite the uniform provisions of the asylum law and jurisdiction and the clear authority attributed to a federal agency. We build on the principle-agent theory of federalism and argue that the decision-makers in the regional offices of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees are partly guided by the regional environment. A panel analysis on asylum decisions from 2010 to 2015 supports the thesis that the asylum system is influenced by country-specific interests and attitudes. Although our macroanalysis does not allow inferences about individual discrimination to be made, it reinforces the suspicion that asylum seekers have very different chances of being recognized as refugees. The negative influence of xenophobia on the recognition rates is especially troubling.