Beyond Charity: International Cooperation and the Global Refugee Crisis A Twentieth Century Fund Book

by Loescher, Gil

• ISBN13: 9780195102949
• ISBN10: 0195102940
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-08-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

With more than 18 million refugees worldwide, the refugee problem has fostered an intense debate regarding what political changes are necessary in the international system to provide effective solutions in the 1990s and beyond. In the past, refugees have been perceived largely as a problem of international charity, but as the end of the Cold War triggers new refugee movements across the globe, governments are being forced to develop a more systematic approach to the refugee problem. Beyond Charity provides the first extensive overview of the world refugee crisis today, asserting that refugees raise not only humanitarian concerns but also issues of international peace and security. Gil Loescher argues persuasively that a central challenge in the post Cold-War era is to develop a comprehensive refugee policy that preserves the right of asylum while promoting greater political and diplomatic efforts to address the causes of flight. He presents the contemporary crisis in a historical framework and explores the changing role of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Loescher suggests short-term and long-term reforms that address both the current refugee crisis and its underlying causes. The book also details the ways governmental structures and international organizations could be strengthened to assume more effective assistance, protection, and political mediation functions. Beyond Charity helps frame the debate on the global refugee crisis and offers directions for more effective approaches to refugee problems at present and in the future.

Author Biography

Gil Loescher is Professor of International Relations at the University of Notre Dame and a member of the Advisory Board of International Experts to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. He is co-editor of Refugees and International Relations (Oxford, 1989).

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. v
Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction the Global Refugee Crisis	p. 3
Refugee Movements: Causes and Consequences	p. 11
The Origins of the International Refugee Regime	p. 32
the Cold War and the Early Development of the Unhcr	p. 55
The International Refugee Regime and Third World Refugees	p. 75
Asylum Crises in the Industrialized World	p. 93
The Limitations of the International Refugee Regime	p. 129
Resolving Refugee Problems: Asylum and Development Assistance Policies	p. 152
Resolving Refugee Problems: Addressing Political Causes	p. 180
Notes	p. 207
Recommended Reading and Sources	p. 235
Index	p. 251
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