Refugees

Millions of people are forced to flee their homes because of armed conflict, natural catastrophe, or repression based on culture and politics, and the world has yet to answer this need well. This introduction examines the causes of the present refugee crisis and its consequences for the countries and communities that receive displaced people, for the wider international order, and for the migrants themselves. Gil Loescher explains how refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people differ from one another and from other forced migrants. He traces the long history of displacement and the way refugees rose to the center of international concern in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and he assesses how governments and humanitarian organisations have responded. The book closes by arguing that these institutions must grasp the realities of today's refugee situation if they hope to meet its present and future challenges. Written in the pocket-sized Very Short Introductions format, it offers a concise entry point for readers new to the subject.