title: Threatened or Threatening? How Ideology Shapes Asylum Seekers' Immigration Policy Attitudes in Israel and Australia.
abstract: Can different political ideologies explain policy preferences regarding asylum seekers? We focus on attitudes regarding governmental policy towards out-group members and suggest that perceptions of threat help to shape these policy attitudes. Study 1 compared public opinion regarding asylum policy in Israel (N= 137) and Australia (N= 138), two countries with restrictive asylum policies and who host a large number of asylum seekers; Study 2, a longitudinal study, was conducted during two different time periods in Israel-before and during the Gaza conflict. Results of both studies showed that threat perceptions of out-group members drive the relationship between conservative political ideologies and support for exclusionary asylum policies among citizens. Perceptions of threat held by members of the host country (the in-group) towards asylum seekers (the out-group) may influence policy formation. The effect of these out-groups threats needs to be critically weighed when considering Israeli and Australian policies towards asylum seekers.
authors.affiliation: University of Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Daphna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Canetti
authors.affiliation: University of Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Keren L G
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Snider
authors.affiliation: Curtin University and Murdoch University, Australia.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: University of Macau, Macau (SAR), People's Republic of China and Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA brianhall@umac.mo.
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Hall
keywords: Asylum policy; conflict; perception of threats