Book contents
- Refugee Crises, 1945–2000
- Publications of the German Historical Institute
- Refugee Crises, 1945–2000
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Responses to Refugee Crises in International Comparison
- Part I The Postwar and Decolonization Moment
- 2 The Dynamics of Expellee Integration in Post-1945 Europe
- 3 Integrating without a Host Society
- 4 Pakistan
- 5 Transgenerational Displacement and Integration among Palestinians and Palestinian Refugees from Syria in Jordan
- 6 A Matter of Definition
- Part II Refugee Movements during the Cold War and beyond
- Part III Afterword
- Index
6 - A Matter of Definition
Institutional Inclusion and Europe’s Postcolonial Migrants
from Part I - The Postwar and Decolonization Moment
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2023
- Refugee Crises, 1945–2000
- Publications of the German Historical Institute
- Refugee Crises, 1945–2000
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Responses to Refugee Crises in International Comparison
- Part I The Postwar and Decolonization Moment
- 2 The Dynamics of Expellee Integration in Post-1945 Europe
- 3 Integrating without a Host Society
- 4 Pakistan
- 5 Transgenerational Displacement and Integration among Palestinians and Palestinian Refugees from Syria in Jordan
- 6 A Matter of Definition
- Part II Refugee Movements during the Cold War and beyond
- Part III Afterword
- Index
Summary
As European powers lost colonial wars and/or faced independence movements, millions of people living in or stationed in the colonies fled en masse, mostly to Europe. This essay offers an overview of these migrations of decolonization, considers their legacy, and offers points of comparison with contemporary refugee movements. Despite the migrants’ ethnic and racial diversity and the large numbers involved (about 5 to 7 million people), decolonization migrants are viewed today as having nearly completely integrated into their host societies. While these migrants share many features in common with contemporary refugees, a notable distinction is that of definition.Defined nearly from the start as full-fledged members of the host country they were migrating to, migrants of decolonization typically received advantages unmatched by most other migrants of the postwar period.
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- Information
- Refugee Crises, 1945-2000Political and Societal Responses in International Comparison, pp. 124 - 154Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020