1st Edition

International Political Theory and the Refugee Problem

By Natasha Saunders Copyright 2018
204 Pages
by Routledge

204 Pages
by Routledge

204 Pages
by Routledge

‘The refugee problem’ is a term that it has become almost impossible to escape. Although used by a wide range of actors involved in work related to forced migration, these actors do not often explain what exactly ‘the problem’ is that they are working to solve, leading to an unfortunate conflation of two quite different ‘problems’: the problems that refugees face and the problems that refugees... Read more

Introduction: Out of profound concern: for whom?

  1. On Refugee Problems: The Development of a Problem and a Regime
  2. Michel Foucault, Governmentality and the State: The Emergence of the Refugee (as) Problem
  3. Power, Knowledge and the Subject: Managing the Refugee (as) Problem
  4. Hannah Arendt and the Refugee Problem: Worldlessness and Superfluity
  5. Making Oneself at Home in the World: Solutions to Refugees’ Problems

Conclusion: On Durability and Permanence

 

Biography

Natasha Saunders is a lecturer at the University of St Andrews. Her research interests fall within the field of international political theory, with a focus on issues of human rights, migration, statelessness, inclusion/exclusion, and identity.

'In this powerful book, Natasha Saunders challenges us to think about refugees in terms of their struggles for rights, sanctuary, and international mobility. Gone is the figure of the refugees as an abject humanitarian victim. Instead, Saunders provides the conceptual tools to perceive refugees as people enacting themselves as political beings. This is a bold and highly recommended intervention into the growing field of critical refugee studies.'Peter Nyers, Associate Professor of Political Science, McMaster University

'Saunders' brilliantly interrogates and in true Foucauldian fashion uniquely cuts the hard-shelled "refugee problem" in two to reveal the problem refugees face and the problem they are deemed to pose. Confronting the former, Saunders compellingly explores Arendt's thought and decidedly pragmatic efforts like sanctuary provisions to bring us ever closer to understanding how displaced persons might again find their place in the world.'Randy K. Lippert, Professor of Criminology, University of Windsor

'… fresh perspectives on how a research agenda in the political theory of immigration could be advanced in future – a topic that will certainly accompany the discipline in the upcoming years.'Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski, Contemporary Political Theory