Refugees' Roles in Resolving Displacement and Building Peace: Beyond Beneficiaries

Today, there are more people uprooted by conflict than at any time since World War II, and persecution and disasters further increase the record numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons. This book takes a new approach to examining the obstacles to resolving forced migration by focusing on the coping and problem-solving abilities of the refugees and other displaced persons themselves. The contributors to this volume bring interdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies from the fields of political science, law, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy to help scholars and practitioners look at the problem of refugee crises in a new light. The chapters draw on original fieldwork, including refugee testimonials, and archival research and cover major displacement situations throughout the world. For example, the contributors examine the long-term plights of the Palestinians and Sahrawi and refugees or internally displaced persons related to the cases of Colombia, Myanmar, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Liberia, Ghana, Haiti, and Nagorno-Karabakh. The findings of this work show that it is important to empower refugees, to tailor solutions to the particular circumstances of a crisis, and to directly involve refugees in conflict resolution processes.

Megan Bradley is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill University.

James Milner is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University.

Blair Peruniak is a doctoral candidate in the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford.