A U-Turn in Germany's Asylum Policy? Comparing the 1992 Asylum Compromise and the Open Door Policy of 2015

Chancellor Merkel's decision in the summer of 2015 to accept up to 800,000 refugees took many observers by surprise. This plan seems to be a reversal of Germany’s post-unification approach to limit the number of asylum seekers through a dual strategy of tougher legislation and the EU Dublin Convention. What factors have driven the German government to the bold move in the current refugee crisis? This paper addresses this question by comparing the political processes leading up to the 1992 Asylkompromiss (Asylum Compromise) and the 1993 amendment of the Basic Law with those resulting in the ‘open door policy’ of 2015. The paper will focus on two sets of factors: first, domestic developments in competitive party politics, public/ media discourse and civil society. In a second step, I will examine the borader international, European context within which Germany’s intent to welcome such a large number of refugees needs to be understood. Based on this analysis, the paper will discuss the  degree to whichthis does amount to a fundamental and permanent break with Germany’s approach to governing asylum after the 1993 constitutional change.