Advocates for Acceptance. To what extent community sponsorship could generate support for refugee reception in the Netherlands

Abstract

This thesis explores the potential of community sponsorship to generate support for refugee reception in the Netherlands. Community sponsorship, a relatively new concept in the Netherlands, refers to the partnership between governments, who facilitate legal admission for refugees, and private actors, who provide additional support to receive and settle refugees into their community. Three research methods have been combined into a mixed-methods design: (1) a literature review that explores previous research, (2) a descriptive and statistical analysis of cross-country data on attitudes towards immigrants, collected through the Special Eurobarometer 519 survey, and (3) a qualitative study of first-hand interviews with participants of the Dutch community sponsorship program of Samen Hier. The outcomes of this study suggest that frequent interactions with immigrants and refugees could indeed foster better intergroup relationships and, subsequently, increase the support for immigration and refugee reception. Some evidence also suggests an indirect effect on the social circle of sponsor-participants. Furthermore, a relationship was found between satisfaction with the national government and support for immigration. Additionally, the study found that, compared to other EU countries, the Dutch are more likely to be satisfied with their government, feel comfortable with immigrants and consider themselves well-informed about immigration.