Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The refugee ‘problem’
- PART I The refugee: a conceptual analysis
- 2 Who is (not) a refugee?
- 3 The refugee and the international states system
- 4 Sovereign rights, human rights and security
- PART II The refugee: an historical analysis
- PART III The refugee: a contemporary analysis
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
2 - Who is (not) a refugee?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The refugee ‘problem’
- PART I The refugee: a conceptual analysis
- 2 Who is (not) a refugee?
- 3 The refugee and the international states system
- 4 Sovereign rights, human rights and security
- PART II The refugee: an historical analysis
- PART III The refugee: a contemporary analysis
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Summary
Within the repertoire of humanitarian concern, refugee now constitutes one of the most powerful labels. From the first procedure of status determination – who is a refugee? – to the structural determinants of life chances which this identity then engenders, labels infuse the world of refugees.
Roger ZetterIn his provocatively entitled book, Women, Fire and Dangerous Things, Lakoff observes that ‘categorization is not a matter to be taken lightly’. The categorisation of concepts that are at once descriptive, normative and political is perhaps the most tricky. The refugee ‘problem’ is, first and foremost, one of categorisation, of making distinctions. None of the discussions in the field – among politicians, policy-makers or academics – can proceed without an idea of who exactly we are talking about when we apply the label ‘refugee’. We use the term freely, with ‘refugeehood’ a seemingly popularly understood condition to the extent that it applies to around 8.4 million individuals across the world. Of course, ‘refugees’ are forced migrants who have been granted an internationally recognised legal status. However, despite the use of the term ‘refugee’ in popular everyday speech, the actual meaning behind the concept remains unclear.
The issue is not helped by the fact that debates in the ‘refugee studies’ field span such a wealth of disciplines. This offers some explanation as to why there should be so many definitions. But is the underlying reason in fact due to the impossibility of finding one essentialist definition?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Refugee in International SocietyBetween Sovereigns, pp. 23 - 46Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008