Refugee Politics: Displacement and Exclusion in the 20th and 21st Centuries

This course addresses three questions. Who is a refugee? What compels refugees to leave their homes? And how should governments and communities respond to them? In answering the first question we will explore recent examples of asylum seeking, state building and international law. In answering the second question we will look at the impacts of globalisation, war, persecution, poverty and environmental change on people flows. In answering the third question we will assess border protection, international organisations, and refugee advocacy. The interaction of concepts and case studies will illuminate the dynamics of political belonging and exclusion in international relations.