The Refugee in International Society

With the unrelenting unrest in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and the Sudan, the plight of refugees has become an increasingly discussed topic in international relations. Why do we have refugees? When did the refugee 'problem' emerge? How can the refugee ever be reconciled with an international system that rests on sovereignty? Looking at three key periods - the inter-war period, the Cold War and the present day - Emma Haddad demonstrates how a specific image has defined the refugee since the international states system arose in its modern form and that refugees have thus been qualitatively the same over the course of history. This historical and normative approach suggests new ways to understand refugees and to formulate responses to them. By examining the issue from an international society perspective, this book highlights how refugees are an inevitable, if unanticipated, result of erecting political borders.

Author: Emma Haddad
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 03/20/2008
Pages: 254
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780521688956

Review Citation(s):
Choice 02/01/2009

About the Author
Haddad, Emma: - Emma Haddad is currently a Policy Advisor on the External Relations of Immigration and Asylum, DG Justice, Freedom and Security at the European Commission. She obtained her Ph.D. from the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science, for which she was awarded the British International Studies Association prize for the best thesis in International Studies, 2004. Her research interests include the conceptualisation of the refugee figure in the modern international states system, the English School, and EU migration and asylum external policy, and her recent publications include contributions to Global Society, the International Journal of Human Rights and the Encyclopaedia of International Relations and Global Politics.