ABSTRACT
To understand the asylum field and the manner in which asylum claims are litigated, it is necessary to examine the evolution and development of the British Home Office. I begin by looking at the creation in the early twentieth century of the Home Office, which was given a mandate to regulate the entry of foreigners into Britain. The second section examines how the haphazard expansion of the HO created an increasingly dysfunctional, albeit powerful, bureaucracy. The third section looks at how the HO conceptualizes and pursues litigation to prevent challenges to its policies. I conclude by setting out the contemporary ‘asylum field’ and the structure and organization of the ‘arena’ in which litigation takes place. A detailed examination of the work/operation of the Home Office and UK Border Agency during 2007-2009 is taken up in Chapter 3.
