Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Economics and Political Science - Department of Poltitical Science

This thesis aims to contribute to the discussion of asylum policy{u2019} determinants by analyzing the policy response of Germany and France to the so-called Europe{u2019} 2015 refugee crisis. Using the advocacy coalition framework (ACF), it identifies and examines the main determinants of the policymaking process, with a special focus on public opinion as one of these determinants. To this end, it analyzes the public opinion-public policy nexus using media as an intermediate variable. The thesis examines the link between media, public opinion, and asylum policy using the media agenda setting theory. Public opinion is examined through analyzing the results of the eight Eurobarometer (EB) surveys, the three European Social Survey (ESS) as well as two secondary reports on public opinion published during the research period 2013-2016. With regard to the media, the thesis reviewed 200 issues of two German newspapers and three French newspapers and analyzed a sample of 415 articles from these newspapers. The thesis comparatively analyzes newspapers{u2019} messages and public opinion{u2019} attitudes and on the asylum policy adopted to tackle the refugee crisis. Applying the media agenda setting theory, the comparison indicated that the media and public in the two countries adopted different attitudes towards Europe{u2019}s refugee crisis. As such, the thesis confirms the correlation put forward by the theory regarding the link between the salience of an object and its attributes in the media and its salience and the salience of its attribute to the public. To understand the correlation between public attitude on one hand and the policy adopted on the other hand, the thesis analyzes the debates and discussions surrounding the new asylum legislation in the two countries through analyzing the parliamentary minutes and reports during the research period

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