Refugees and Forced Displacement: International Security Human Vulnerability and the State

Human displacement can be both a cause and a consequence of conflict within and among societies. As such, the management of refugee movements and the protection of displaced people should be an integral part of security policy and conflict management. Refugees and forcibly displaced people can also represent the starkest example of a tension between "human security"—where the primary focus is the individual and communities—and more conventional models of "national security" tied to the sovereign state. The authors apply this theme to a number of pressing problems covering international law, internally displaced persons, early warning of refugee flows, asylum, the actors and institutions involved in refugee protection, the return and reintegration of displaced people, gender and displacement, and ethical perspectives. The book demonstrates how many of the challenges of refugees, and the challenges posed by societies and governments to refugee protection, have been exacerbated by the terrorist attacks of September 2001. In seeking to address the conflict between security concerns and migratory flows, Refugees and Forced Displacement argues the need for reappraisal of the legal, political, normative, institutional, and conceptual frameworks through which the international community addresses refugees and displacement. Contributors include B.S.Chimni, Patricia Weiss Fagen, Mervyn Frost, Khalid Koser, Gil Loescher, William Maley, Peter Mares, Julie Mertus, Erin D. Mooney, Gregor Noll, Mark Raper, Susanne Schmeidl, Astri Suhrke, and Gary Troeller.

Edward Newman is the director of studies on conflict and security in the Peace and Governance Program of the United Nations University. Joanne van Selm is a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute.