This collection of papers presents critical perspectives in the development of asylum law, focusing on European and UK developments.

Dr Prakash Shah is Lecturer in Law at Queen Mary College, University of London, where he teaches Comparative Immigration and Nationality Law.

List of Contributors -- Preface -- Introduction: From Legal Centralism to Official Lawlessness? /@Prakash Shah -- 1 Asylum Seekers in the New Europe: Time for a Rethink? /@Dallal Stevens -- 2 Protecting Refugees in the Context of Immigration Controls /@Catherine Phuong -- 3 Deflecting Refugees: A Critique of the EC Asylum Procedures Directive /@Sarah Craig and Maria Fletcher -- 4 EC Law on Family Members of Persons Seeking or Receiving International Protection /@Steve Peers -- 5 Towards a Just European Welfare System for Migrants? /@Keith Puttick -- 6 A 'Common' EU Immigration and Asylum Policy: National and Institutional Constraints /@Valsamis Mitsilegas -- 7 Detention of Asylum Seekers and Refugees and International Human Rights Law /@Dan Wilsher -- 8 Judging Asylum /@Colin Harvey -- 9 Asylum Appeals: The Challenge of Asylum to the British Legal System /@Robert Thomas -- 10 Communicative Barriers in the Asylum Account /@Roxana Rycroft -- 11 'Don't Bother Knocking': Australia's Response to Asylum Seekers /@Ernst Willheim -- Index