Nicholas A. R. Fraser

Nicholas A. R. Fraser studies the politics of immigration and multiculturalism. In 2020, he completed his PhD in political science at the University of Toronto. Before joining CERC Migration as Senior Research Associate, Nicholas held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California, Berkeley’s Canadian Studies program (2021-2022) and Harvard University’s program on U.S.-Japan Relations (2022-2023). 

Nicholas’s research draws on political science theories and methods to explore how states attempt to control and manage the long-term impacts of immigration, including but not limited to immigrants’ rights, public attitudes and multiculturalism. One strand of his work investigates the persistence of immigration policy legacies despite changes in immigration levels, formal policy rules, and who holds elected office. Nicholas’s book project, ‘Bogus’ Refugees: How Bureaucratic Politics Shapes Asylum Policy, challenges conventional explanations for Canada’s comparatively generous, and Japan’s relatively asylum, policy legacies using a comparative study of these two receiving states with Ireland and South Korea.

A second strand of Nicholas’s work focuses on political behaviour in developed democracies including Canada and Japan, crucial cases for explaining immigration politics.

Recent Publications

With Fehr, C. Studying Religious Symbols and Bias in Court Proceedings (external link) . Osgoode Hall Law Journal (forthcoming).

With Reda, A. and Khattab, A. (2023). When Social Mobility is not an Option: How the Kafala System Encourages Anti-Immigrant Sentiment (external link) . Political Studies Review.

(2022). More than advocates: Lawyers’ role in efficient refugee status determination (external link) . Canadian Public Administration, 65(4), 647-666.

With Cheng, J. W. (2022). Do natives prefer white immigrants? Evidence from Japan (external link) . Ethnic and Racial Studies, 45(14), 2678-2704.

With Murakami, G. (2022). The Role of Humanitarianism in Shaping Public Attitudes toward Refugees (external link) . Political Psychology, 43(2), 255-275.

With Cheng, J. W. (2022). Japanese Newspaper Portrayals of Refugees – a Frame Analysis from 1985 to 2017 (external link) . Journal of Refugee Studies, 35(3), 1364-1385.

With Kalicki, K. and Murakami, G. (2013). The Difference That Security Threat Makes: Ethnic Minorities and the Post-War Politics of Citizenship Regime Formation in Japan in a Comparative Perspective (external link) . Social Science Japan Journal, 16(2), 211-234.

Policy Briefs

(2022). How Competent Lawyers Help Make Asylum Procedures More Efficient (external link) . BIMI-HIFIS Policy Brief Series. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative.

(2022). How Non-Judgemental Engagement Could Reduce Prejudice (external link) . BIMI-HIFIS Policy Brief Series. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative.

(2022). Rights or Needs: Fundraising for Stigmatized Groups (external link) . BIMI-Othering & Belonging Institute Policy Brief Series. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative.

With Kaga, M., Nakache, D., Anderson, M., Crépeau, F., Delisle, A., Frenyó, E., Purkey, A., Soennecken, D., and Tanotra, R. (2021). Vulnerability in the Canadian Protection Regime: Research Report on the Policy Framework (external link) . VULNER Research Report 1.

(2020). Re-Assessing Canada’s Refugee Policy in the Era of COVID-19 (external link) . Policy Options.