The prize honors the legacy of Charles H. Levine, a distinguished member of the committee and a former member of the editorial board of its official journal, Governance. The prize recognizes the best book in the field of comparative public administration or public policy published in the preceding year, based on the recommendation of an independent and distinguished selection committee. This year’s committee was composed of Professors Akshay Mangla (Chair, University of Oxford, UK), Diego Salazar-Morales (Leiden University, Netherlands), and Michelle Fernandez (University of Brasília, Brazil).��

This year, the Award Committee has selected The Politics of Refugee Policy in the Global South, by Ola G. El-Taliawi, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, as the 2025 recipient of the Levine Award.��

An excerpt from the committee’s award citation:

The Politics of Refugee Policy in the Global South confronts a central paradox in global refugee governance: countries of the Global South—that share trajectories of limited economic development, colonial legacies, and postcolonial state-building—host 83% of the world’s refugees. While these states grapple with constrained state capacities, limited economic resources, and marginal influence in international politics, scholarly and political debates remain overwhelmingly fixated on the Global North, rendering the experiences and governance innovations of the South markedly understudied. This book addresses this longstanding empirical gap by offering an innovative theoretical and methodological framework for analysing how Global South states respond to mass refugee movements.

Theoretically, the book draws on complex systems theory to develop a heuristic model that traces how specific inputs (international law, humanitarian assistance, and the role of international organizations) interact with weak or uneven institutional infrastructures of Global South states to produce distinct governance outputs. These outputs include how refugee entry and stay are regulated, how livelihoods are structured, and how durable solutions are envisioned and pursued. This framework is both innovative and generalisable, offering scholars and policymakers valuable tools for analysing refugee governance in other Global South contexts experiencing large-scale displacement, often from neighbouring countries.

To learn more about the book visit Book Launch: The Politics of Refugee Policy in the Global South Webinar Event Report – LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network

Shifting the focus from sensationalist rhetoric about mass migration to the North, The Politics of Refugee Policy in the Global South provides a comparative analysis of Lebanon’s and Jordan’s responses to the Syrian refugee movement, one of the largest displacements in modern history.

This publication is available as an open-access publication and can also be purchased on the as part of the MQUP Refugee and Forced Migration Studies Series.

Moderated by James Milner, Project Director of LERRN, and accompanied by esteemed panelists Jasmin Lilian Diab and Gerasimos Tsourapas, El-Taliawi presented her research study examining the complexities of refugee policymaking in the Global South. Emphasizing the need to understand refugee policymaking processes in the Global South as distinct from those in the Global North, she articulated how her inquiry was shaped around three questions:

• How do we analyze and understand how governments in the Global South respond to mass refugee movements?
• How have the governments of Jordan and Lebanon responded to Syrian mass displacement over time, and what has influenced their policy decisions?
• What explains variations in policy outputs between them, despite similarities (in contexts & displacement features?

Reflecting on the results of this study, El-Taliawi shared how the book follows Jordan and Lebanon’s evolving responses to Syrian displacement over 11 years. Her analysis revealed that both countries moved from non-restrictive policies (2011-2013) to semi-restrictive approaches (2014-2022), shifting focus from refugee assistance to host resilience. While Jordan and Lebanon converged on policies regarding entry, exit, and prohibiting local integration, they diverged on policies related to stay (registration suspension) and livelihoods (encampment). Drawing from these trends, El-Taliawi was able to categorize variation in host government behavior through four distinct strategies: Contain, Capitalize, Accommodate, and Politicize—each reflecting varying levels of constraints and government involvement.

Panelists later shared their praise for the publication, with Gerasimos Tsourapas noting how El-Taliawi’s robust methodological approach contributes to the book’s depth of empirical knowledge. Calling it a “timely, sophisticated intervention”, Tsourapas also emphasized the unique manner in which El-Taliawi foregrounds the agency of Global South states by treating refugee policymaking in the Global South as a distinct arena, rather than as a deviation from Northern norms. He offered thoughtful remarks on the subject, stating that “the book reminds us that the global south is not marginal to all of this, it is the main stage of this story of global displacement”.

Jasmin Lilian Diab characterized the book as “a much-needed corrective to the euro-centric bias” in refugee studies, and commended El-Taliawi’s expertise in evidence collection and the contribution that her works make to methodological conversations about policy creation and analysis. Diab highlighted how the book forces us to rethink these foundational assumptions that position the Global South as passive recipients of displacement, and stressed the importance of framing when shifting the gaze to the Global South and examining it on its terms.

In her closing remarks, El-Taliawi called upon scholars, activists, and humanitarians to move forward by engaging with humility, correcting historical injustices, and welcoming new inputs. Given the current critical moment in global refugee governance, this publication highlights the importance of utilizing previously overlooked public policy analytical tools to examine refugee issues and confront today’s realities.

To listen to the full webinar, follow the link below.

This report was prepared by��Lilly Neang, LERRN Knowledge Mobilization Officer.

Introduction

Scholarship on refugee policy has grown substantially over the past decades, reflecting the increasing complexity of forced displacement and policy responses worldwide. This reflects the realization that state responses to refugees are not only shaped by legal and humanitarian considerations, but also by broader policy processes. It also invites deeper engagement with the field of policy studies and the insights it can offer to refugee and forced migration studies.

Refugee studies has long benefited from insights from different disciplines and, as forced displacement continues to pose complex governance challenges, it is crucial that the field maintains and expands this interdisciplinarity. Engaging with policy studies can advance scholarly analysis by shedding light on the institutions, actors, and ideas that shape refugee policy.

This paper examines the extent to which policy studies and refugee and forced migration studies have intersected in recent scholarship. In particular, it investigates how issues of refugee policy have been dealt with, looking into the theoretical and methodological approaches scholars employ.

The authors also explore what policy issues and themes are most prominent in recent research. Further, building on previous analyses conducted by LERRN, the paper also addresses key questions about which disciplines and institutions are shaping this subfield.

To explore these dynamics, the paper presents findings from a bibliometric and content analysis. By mapping key dimensions of refugee policy research, this study provides insights into the state of this subfield and highlights the potential for deeper cross-disciplinary engagement with policy studies

]]> /lerrn/2020/op-ed-what-the-beirut-blast-means-for-lebanons-refugees/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=op-ed-what-the-beirut-blast-means-for-lebanons-refugees Mon, 14 Sep 2020 14:47:19 +0000 /lerrn/?p=2475 Last month’s Beirut Blast impacted thousands of people in the country, particularly Lebanon’s refugee population, who a majority of which are living below the poverty line and experience frequent food insecurity.��

Dr. Ola G. El-Taliawi, Postdoctoral Fellow in Global Refugee Policy at the Faculty of Public Affairs at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, recently co-authored an that explains the alarming consequences for refugee populations in Lebanon amidst the Beirut explosion and COVID-19 pandemic, as well as offers recommendations for the international donor community to reform its aid strategy into an inclusive one that includes nationals and refugees as co-stakeholders in rebuilding and disaster mitigation.

To read the full op-ed, click .��

Dr. El-Taliawi argues that transparent and accurate communication, a whole-of-society approach and the implementation of evidence-based strategies based on historical and current data are paramount in managing this crisis.

“While COVID-19 represents a significant threat, every crisis also presents opportunities for sustained innovation and learning. How successfully this crisis is managed will depend on how well each government is able to face it head-on and bring society on board, while coordinating effectively with stakeholders,” says Dr. El-Taliawi.

Read the full post .��

Dr.��El-Taliawi noted that given the absence of any clear parameters on how states choose to respond to mass refugee flows, and the diversity of responses states adopt, it is imperative that we advance our understanding of what influences states’��refugee policymaking. This is especially important in cases of extreme emergency and crisis situations, when policymaking tends to be more chaotic and ad-hoc. According to her, understanding the drivers and factors that influence refugee policymaking can help us reduce the negative consequences to refugees, host societies and the international humanitarian community.��

Dr. Ola G. El-Taliawi presented a talk on refugee policy formulation and implementation on March 11.

A key point highlighted��by��Dr.��El-Taliawi��was the need to adopt complexity and systems thinking when analysing refugee policymaking during crisis situations.��According to her, policies in such situations emerge from complex and dynamic system interactions that change and evolve over time. Non-restrictive policy responses are not solely linked to Convention adoption or conformance to international norms of refugee protection, but may emerge from other factors including local norms. Her talk ended with a set of policy recommendations for crisis mitigation including the need to adopt a third approach to refugee protection; one which realizes both the interests of the hosts and the refugee population.����

With over 80% of refugee research originating in the Global North,��Dr.��El-Taliawi��commended the approach that the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN) has adopted in taking��a��collaborative approach��research and knowledge mobilization; one which ensures��that refugee research��and policies are shaped by��more inclusive, equitable and informed collective engagement of civil society.��

As a Postdoctoral Fellow,��Dr.��El-Taliawi will dedicate the next two years��to updating her research findings and publishing them to be accessible to the��academic and practitioner��communities��alike. Further, her plans include organizing an international workshop for the study of refugee policymaking,��which will bring together researchers and others interested in��bridging the divide��between public policy and refugee studies.��

You can stay up to date with all upcoming LERRN events here.

Her doctoral research project, which was nominated for the Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize, focused on the comparative politics of refugee policymaking in the Middle East, with specific emphasis on Lebanon and Jordan.

Through her work, Dr. El-Taliawi seeks to advance our understanding of how refugee policies are negotiated and implemented in non-signatory countries and to help bridge the current divide between the norm and practice of refugee protection.

Join Dr. El-Taliawi on Wednesday, 11 March 2020, where she will outline her research agenda that seeks to advance our understanding of how refugee policies are formulated and implemented in these contexts. This agenda seeks to help bridge the current divide between the norm and practice of refugee protection.

To register to attend this talk, click