Escape From Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World

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The developing world has been overwhelmed by major refugee crises in the past few decades, and a rapidly changing world has altered the dynamics of refugee flows and their root causes. For this reason, the authors of Escape From Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World, attempt to provide a more realistic theoretical framework of refugee trends in order to prescribe ways in which the developed world can help alleviate the problem. The book attempts to clarify why there have been so many refugees emerging recently from the developing world, why they leave in varying volumes, where they end up, and why they go back or not. The findings indicate that patterns of refugee flows and conflict are affected by various economic and political factors within originating countries as well as the global setting itself, with different kinds of conflict producing different kinds of refugee patterns. This suggests the complexity of the causes of refugee issues, which include many examples of external influence and intervention.

The first chapter of the book provides a highly informative background and history to the concept of refugees, as well as their relevance to the modern international political system. The authors importantly point out that defining a refugee is not simply a matter of academic concern because resulting definitions may mean the difference between life and death for people in conflict zones. Defining a refugee involves political and ethical considerations, inevitably creating disagreement regarding the issue. For example, when refugees are defined in a certain way by the United Nations, research will consequently revolve around such definitions and will help support the status quo of the institut...

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...highly dynamic and rapidly changing nature of globalization, which is redefining traditional political, economic, and social arrangements and fostering greater interdependence between states in the international stage. They dismiss the notion that economic underdevelopment is a major determinant of refugee flows; instead showing that political ideology is more significant simply because of the political nature of their displacement. This book provides a highly comprehensive and informative analysis of the modern refugee crisis and helps clarify the origins of the problem and provide useful prescriptions of institutional reforms that would better deal with the situation.

Works Cited

Zolberg, Aristide R., Astri Suhrke, and Sergio Aguayo. Escape From Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

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