AN ANALYSIS OF GERMANY’S OPEN DOOR POLICY: THE INCREASE NUMBER OF CRIMINALITY COMMITTED BY REFUGEES (2015 – 2018)

Abstract

Middle East countries namely Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq experienced internal conflicts involving civil society. This conflict caused hundreds of thousands of people to die and in 2015, most of them fled their country to seek protection. Germany is one of the destination countries for Middle East refugees. At this time, Europe was hit by the issue of the refugee crisis. Responding to this crisis, Angela Merkel decided to accept refugees without limits through the Open Door policy. As a result, the number of refugees who came to Germany increased dramatically and became out of control. The government was overwhelmed in dealing with refugees, making it difficult for many of them to survive in Germany. As a result, crimes committed by refugees began to occur. Germans began to be sceptical of the policies made by Angela Merkel. She also began to receive criticism from various parties, thus influencing her popularity in the political sector. Therefore, this thesis discusses to what extent does Germany’s Open Door Policy affect the increasing number of criminality in the country. The author uses the theory of social constructivism and populism to understand how refugee flows can change social conditions in Germany. The author uses a case study method to analyze data and a desk research method to collect sources from official websites, news from local and international media, interviews published on YouTube, and official documents from the German government. This thesis found that the crime rate in Germany committed by refugees has increased quite rapidly after the implementation of the Open Door policy, which causes Germans to feel unsafe in their own country. Besides, it was also found that the social disparities experienced by refugees while in Germany were the main cause for them to commit crimes.