Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Refugee Regime: Sovereignty, Belonging and the Political of Forced Migration

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Was ist ein Migrationsregime? What Is a Migration Regime?

Part of the book series: Migrationsgesellschaften ((MIGRAGS))

Abstract

This chapter discusses the Refugee Regime as a combination of certain institutions that are inherently political in their conflicting determinations of who receives protection or assistance. The Asylum Regime affords protection to migrants who lost recourse to basic rights in their former residence countries. In the Global Refugee Regime, in contrast, attention is placed on assistance and human rights as the majority of refugees lingers in protracted situations. Between the national and universal, refugee policies are often formulated within Regional Refugee Regimes that build on international refugee law but amend it according to regional history and norms. Finally, the Political Refugee Regime is premised on the democratic process by which the basic rights that refugee protection promises can be offered only. The Refugee Regime then is a distinct yet inherently contested part of the Migration Regime that extends the political notion of belonging and sovereignty to those considered devoid of basic rights.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abass, Ademola, and Francesca Ippolito. 2014. Regional Approaches to the Protection of Asylum Seekers: An International Legal Perspective. Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arendt, Hannah. 1994. The Origins of Totalitarianism. San Diego: Harcourt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, Laura. 2002. Global Governance and the Evolution of the International Refugee Regime. International Journal of Refugee Law 14 (2 and 3): 238–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Betts, Alexander. 2009a. Forced Migration and Global Politics. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Betts, Alexander. 2009b. Protection by Persuasion: International Cooperation in the Refugee Regime. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Betts, Alexander. 2010a. Forced Migration Studies: ‘Who are We and Where are We Going?’. Journal of Refugee Studies 23 (2): 260–269 (Report on IASFM 12, Nicosia, Cyprus, June 28–July 2 2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Betts, Alexander. 2010b. The Refugee Regime Complex. Refugee Survey Quarterly 29 (1): 12–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Betts, Alexander. 2011. International Cooperation in the Refugee Regime. In Refugees in International Relations, eds. Alexander Betts and Gil Loescher, 53–84. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Betts, Alexander. 2013. Survival Migration. Failed Governance and the Crisis of Displacement. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Betts, Alexander, Louise Bloom, Naohiko Omata, and University of Oxford Refugee Studies Centre. 2012. Humanitarian Innovation and Refugee Protection. Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre & Oxford Department of International Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blinder, Scott. 2016. UK Public Opinion toward Immigration: Overall Attitudes and Level of Concern. In Migration Observatory Briefing. Oxford: COMPAS, University of Oxford. http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/uk-public-opinion-toward-immigration-overall-attitudes-and-level-of-concern/. Accessed 19 July 2017.

  • Boucher, Anna, and Justin Gest. 2014. Migration Studies at a Crossroads: A Critique of Immigration Regime Typologies. Migration Studies 3 (2): 182–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carens, Joseph H. 2013. The Ethics of Immigration. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheung, Samuel. 2012. Migration Control and the Solutions Impasse in South and Southeast Asia: Implications from the Rohingya Experience. Journal of Refugee Studies 25 (1): 50–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coenders, Marcel, Marcel Lubbers, and Peer Scheepers. 2013. Resistance to Immigrants and Asylum Seekers in the European Union: Cross-National Comparison of Public Opinion. In Immigration and Public Opinion in Liberal Democracies, eds. Gary P. Freeman, Randall Hansen, and David L. Leal, 21–50. New York: Taylor&Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffy, Aoife. 2008. Expulsion to Face Torture? Non-refoulement in International Law. International Journal of Refugee Law 20 (3): 373–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischel de Andrade, José H. 2014. Forced Migration in South America. In The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, eds. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Gil Loescher, Katy Long, and Nando Sigona, 651–663. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher, Dennis. 1989. The Evolution of the International Refugee System. International Migration Review 23 (3): 579–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gammeltoft-Hansen, Thomas. 2011. Access to Asylum: International Refugee Law and the Globalisation of Migration Control. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Geddes, Andrew. 2008. Immigration and European Integration: Beyond Fortress Europe? Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Georgi, Fabian. 2010. For the Benefit of Some: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its Global Migration Management. In The Politics of International Migration Management, eds. Martin Geiger and Antoine Pécoud, 45–72. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gibney, Mark. 1988. Open Borders? Closed Societies? The Ethical and Political Issues. New York: Greenwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibney, Matthew J. 2004. The Ethics and Politics of Asylum: Liberal Democracy and the Response to Refugees. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin-Gill, Guy S., and Jane McAdam. 2007. The Refugee in International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haddad, Emma. 2008. The Refugee in International Society: Between Sovereigns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayter, Teresa. 2004. Open Borders: The Case Against Immigration Controls. London: Pluto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ibhawoh, Bonny. 2003. Defining Persecution and Protection: The Cultural Relativism Debate and the Rights of Refugees. In Problems of Protection: The UNHCR, Refugees and Human Rights, eds. Niklaus Steiner, Mark Gibney, and Gil Loescher, 61–75. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleist, J. Olaf. 2013. Remembering for Refugees in Australia: Political Memories and Concepts of Democracy in Refugee Advocacy post-Tampa. Journal of Intercultural Studies 24 (6): 665–683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kneebone, Susan. 2014. ASEAN and the Conceptualization of Refugee Protection in Southeastern Asian States. In Regional Approaches to the Protection of Asylum Seekers: An International Legal Perspective, eds. Ademola Abass and Francesca Ippolito, 295–324. Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kneebone, Susan, and Felicity Rawlings-Sanaei. 2007. New Regionalism and Asylum Seekers: Challenges Ahead. Oxford: Berghahn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krasner, Stephen D. 1999. Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Loescher, Gil, Alexander Betts, and James Milner. 2008. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection into the Twenty-first Century. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • McAdam, Jane. 2007. Complementary Protection in International Refugee Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McAdam, Jane. 2013. Australia and Asylum Seekers. International Journal of Refugee Law 25 (3): 435–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mckay, Fiona H., Samantha L. Thomas, and Susan Kneebone. 2012. ‘It Would be Okay If They Came through the Proper Channels’: Community Perceptions and Attitudes toward Asylum Seekers in Australia. Journal of Refugee Studies 25 (1): 113–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Sarah Deardorff. 2012. Global Refugee Policy: Varying Perspectives, Unanswered Questions. In Background Paper For the Refugee Studies Centre 30th Anniversary Conference. Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner, James. 2014. Protracted Refugee Situations. In The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, eds. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Gil Loescher, Katy Long, and Nando Sigona, 151–162. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Organization of African Unity (OAU). 1969. Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (OAUC69) (adopted 10 September 1969, entered into force 20 June 1974) 1001 U.N.T.S. 45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmgren, Pei. 2011. Navigating a Hostile Terrain: Refugees and Human Rights in Southeast Asia. Sociology Compass 5 (5): 323–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price, Matthew E. 2009. Rethinking Asylum: History, Purpose, and Limits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Regional Refugee Instruments & Related. 1984. Cartagena Declaration on Refugees. Colloquium on the International Protection of Refugees in Central America, Mexico and Panama, held at Cartagene, Colombia from 19–22 November 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shacknove, Andrew E. 1985. Who is a Refugee? Ethics 95 (2): 274–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sicakkan, Hakan G. 2008. Political Asylum and Sovereignty-Sharing in Europe. Government and Opposition 43 (2): 206–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skran, Claudena M. 1995. Refugees in Inter-war Europe: The Emergence of a Regime. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Turton, David. 2003. Conceptualising Forced Migration. RSC Working Paper. Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN General Assembly. 1948. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (217 [III] A). Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN General Assembly. 1951. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (adopted 28 July 1951, entered into force 22 April 1954) 189 UNTS 137 (Refugee Convention).

    Google Scholar 

  • UNHCR. 2016. Global Trends. Forced Displacement in 2015. Geneva: UNHCR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zetter, Roger. 1991. Labelling Refugees: Forming and Transforming a Bureaucratic Identity. Journal of Refugee Studies 4 (1): 39–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zetter, Roger. 2007. More Labels, Fewer Refugees: Remaking the Refugee Label in an Era of Globalization. Journal of Refugee Studies 20 (2): 172–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany

    J. Olaf Kleist

Authors
  1. J. Olaf Kleist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Olaf Kleist .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IMIS, Universität Osnabrück , Osnabrück, Germany

    Andreas Pott

  2. FB Kultur und Sozialwissenschaften, Universität Osnabrück , Osnabrück, Germany

    Christoph Rass

  3. Moderne Geschichte, Universität Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany

    Frank Wolff

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kleist, J.O. (2018). The Refugee Regime: Sovereignty, Belonging and the Political of Forced Migration. In: Pott, A., Rass, C., Wolff, F. (eds) Was ist ein Migrationsregime? What Is a Migration Regime?. Migrationsgesellschaften. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-20532-4_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-20532-4_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-20531-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-20532-4

  • eBook Packages: Social Science and Law (German Language)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation