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The issue of international migration raises distinctive normative challenges for liberal democratic states, which regard certain rights and liberties as fundamental and have institutionalized them through constitutions. Most migrants want little more than to make better lives for themselves. If people wish to migrate across borders, why shouldn’t they be able to? States exercise power over borders, but what, if anything, justifies this power? If states are justified in excluding some and accepting others, what should be their criteria of selection? This chapter provides an overview of the leading normative positions on migration. It considers two main positions: arguments for open borders and arguments for state sovereignty. It then makes the case for a middle-ground position of qualified state sovereignty, “controlled borders and open doors.” The final section discusses two challenges to liberal constitutionalism posed by migration: what is owed to refugees outside a state’s borders and unauthorized migrants inside a state’s borders.
When British troops entered Germany, they found ‘well dressed and well fed’ Germans, showing how much the Nazi state had plundered from occupied nations and camp inmates. Soon, however, prominent British opinion-shapers arrived at a new appreciation of German victimhood. Millions of ethnic German ‘expellees’ created a constituency of displaced persons whose basic needs had to be met. Central to this story is British publisher, humanitarian and activist Victor Gollancz, the force behind ‘Save Europe Now’ (SEN). Gollancz’s polemical interventions used ‘kaput’ shoes as emblems of German immiseration, evoking the footwear stripped from victims of Nazi genocide. While SEN encouraged Britons to send clothing and food parcels to Germans, British occupation authorities revised their understandings of former enemies and allies. The chapter concludes with the International Military Tribunal convened in Nuremberg to try leading Nazi war criminals in 1945–6. Noting the ‘deflation’ of Nazi leaders stripped of uniforms and insignia, British and US observers also remarked on poor Soviet apparel. Western attempts to kindle consumerist aspirations behind the Iron Curtain soon became prominent.
Are people more inclined to help strangers when they’ve experienced similar hardships? People who have experienced displacement could be tremendous allies to the newly displaced, but they are relatively understudied. This study explores how people who have experienced wartime displacement respond to refugees fleeing new violence. I prime Serbs who experienced wartime displacement with either (1) their experience of displacement or (2) their ethnic identity. I then measure their altruism toward Syrian refugees traveling the Balkan route. Compared to participants who were reminded of their ethnic identity, participants who were reminded of their displacement were no more generous toward displaced Syrians. In fact, participants who experienced displacement, as well as wartime violence, were more generous toward the refugees when they were reminded of their ethnic identity. These results suggest that shared hardship alone may not necessarily enhance refugee inclusion. The results further suggest that interventions may benefit from calling out the differences between hosts and refugees—in this case, on the dimension of ethnicity. These findings caution humanitarians to construct their interventions with care.
This is a collection of original articles on diverse vulnerable populations in Japan in the wake of the new coronavirus pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 are felt differently, with some among us at much greater risk of infection due to preexisting health and welfare conditions. For others, perhaps more than the risk of infection, it is the precautions taken to mitigate the risk for the whole population, such as lockdowns and business closures, that have pulled away the already fragile safety net of state and civil society organization (CSO) support, leading to increased marginalization and social exclusion. The goal of this set of papers is to document the conditions of those that have been most directly affected by the virus and to provide background on the conditions that made them vulnerable in the first place, notably chronic conditions that are brought into more obvious relief in light of emergency measures. Each of the authors had a pre-established relationship with those affected populations and employed various ethnographic approaches, some face to face, others digitally via Zoom interviews and SNS exchanges. In this moment of what appears to be relative calm, we hope that our collection, quickly compiled in an attempt to capture the ever-changing situation, will give some insight into how those most vulnerable are faring in this time of crisis and provide information that will allow us to prepare better before the next wave comes our way.
A large proportion of applicants for asylum in the UK are housed in contingency hotels while awaiting the outcome of their claim. As the prevalence of severe mental illness (SMI) among asylum seekers is estimated to be around 61%, a measurable impact on mental health services local to these hotels might be expected.
Aims
To evaluate the proportion of asylum seekers on the caseload of a crisis mental health team serving an area with a high concentration of contingency hotels, and to briefly explore the care needs of this population.
Method
Retrospective cross-sectional analysis of all referrals to the Hounslow Crisis Assessment and Home Treatment Team (HCAHTT) in London, UK, between 1 April and 30 September 2023.
Results
Of the 718 referrals to HCAHTT, 536 were taken on the caseload, of whom 9 were asylum seekers. No difference was found in the proportion of asylum seekers on the caseload compared with the general population. Asylum seekers were often moved at short notice, over half required an interpreter and all 9 had a history of trauma.
Conclusions
Asylum seekers housed in Hounslow are not over-represented on the HCAHTT caseload compared with the general population. Given that higher rates of SMI in the asylum seeker population are well-established, this result is more likely to be due to systemic factors than to represent an unusually low rate of asylum seekers experiencing SMI. Asylum seekers tended to require interpretation services and have high rates of reported trauma. Continuity of care is affected by the asylum accommodation process. Better active outreach to vulnerable populations to raise awareness of services might be required.
In the context of the global increase in displaced people, spiking to nearly 80 million in these corona times, Japan has also seen a dramatic increase in the number of applications for refugee asylum since 2010. Despite increasing numbers of applications, Japan has not increased its refugee recognition rate. Unable to return home to sure persecution when rejected, many refugees end up in Japanese detention centers once their visa expires. Like jails, hospitals and detention centers everywhere, detention centers in Japan are crowded and dangerous and unable to protect the detainees inside. Japan has been slower than many other countries to take precautions, including temporary release. This paper outlines some of the policy shifts that have led to this dangerous situation, the conditions of anxiety inside the detention centers themselves in Tokyo and Ibaraki and the problematic situation of “provisional release” of some detainees into a corona-infested Japan without any safety net or protection. We hope to not only point out the immediate danger of infection under COVID-19, but also the larger dynamic of using detention to manage a refugee asylum system that has proven to be ineffective and unjust.
How does one prepare for flight? Is it possible to plan for such a disruptive event? This article explores a unique publication project established precisely for that purpose: migration manuals published by a German-Jewish organization to support the masses of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in the 1930s. These manuals consolidated elaborate information from all over the world to prepare Jews for impending displacement. They encompassed not only essential details but also impressions, recommendations, and complaints. The manuals’ editors assembled reports from individuals already settled in refuge, generating a collaborative self-help effort on a global scale. Analyzing their content, this article shows that the process of guiding readers into forced migration extended in this case beyond technical migration procedures to include knowledge transfer about the politics of race, class, and gender, reflecting how German-Jewish refugees studied and situated themselves within these categories.
From the Enlightenment, liberal political economic thought, and the history of science, to the nation-building, ideas of citizenship, and border-setting that have defined European political and geographical space, and to racial capitalism and imperialism’s foundational role in shaping modern European economies, politics, law, and modernity, race has been central to modern Europe’s history, including its most painful episodes, and to the “global turn” in writing European history. Antiracism associated with internationalism, anticolonialism, and decolonization has also profoundly shaped European history and its writing – especially the “global turn.” Yet, considerations of economic, intellectual, political, religious, and other aspects of European history continue to neglect race and racial thought. This chapter examines the literature produced by the global turn on the role of race and racism in European history and reflects on its persistent marginalization in narratives of European history.
Throughout the Cold War, Yugoslavia was the only socialist country that participated in the Western-led international refugee regime and acted as a transit zone for refugees hoping to reach the Western Bloc. Those transiting were mainly, but not exclusively, escapees from various countries in the Soviet bloc. A few refugee groups also settled in Yugoslavia against the backdrop of shifts in international constellations, tense relationships with neighboring countries, and transnational mobilizations. This article will first investigate the dichotomy between transit and the few instances of refugees integrating into socialist Yugoslavia. Next, it will investigate the ease of the resettlement process by exploring how the length of time spent in the country was influenced by hierarchies among different refugee groups based on ethnic origin, political allegiances, class, and which opportunities for resettlement were available to whom. Finally, it will reflect on how the changing role of temporary refuge or permanent haven that Yugoslavia ascribed to itself was constructed and challenged by the host society, potential countries of resettlement, and the refugees themselves.
Commonsense morality suggests that an unjustly invaded democracy may conscript its own citizens and bar them from emigrating when such a policy is necessary to sustain resistance to the invader. What does this assumption regarding ‘internal conscription’ entail for ‘external conscription’ – for foreign countries who might close their borders to many citizens of the invaded democracy, to push them to fight? Could it have been morally appropriate for Ukraine’s neighbours, for instance, to close their borders to (many) Ukrainians at the onset of the Russian assault on Kyiv, with the aim of sustaining Ukraine’s resistance to Putin’s invasion? I take up such questions by examining the seeming discrepancy between internal and external conscription. I argue that, notwithstanding its surface appeal, a categorical divide between the two kinds of conscription is unwarranted. At the level of fundamental moral principles, the two stand and fall together.
Refugee experiences of trauma and displacement can significantly disrupt established social networks. While social functioning has been routinely associated with mental health, to our knowledge, no study has tested the direction of influence between social and psychological functioning within displaced refugee communities. This study investigated the temporal association between psychological symptoms (PTSD, depression, anger) and multiple facets of social functioning (including community connectedness, perceived social responsibility, positive social support and negative social support).
Method
A culturally diverse sample of refugees (N = 1,235) displaced in Indonesia completed an online survey at four time-points, six months apart. Longitudinal structural equation modelling was used to investigate the temporal ordering between psychological symptoms and social functioning.
Results
Findings revealed that greater psychological symptoms were associated with a subsequent deterioration in social functioning (decreased positive social support and community connectedness and increased negative social support and perceived social responsibility). Greater perceived social responsibility was also associated with subsequent increases in psychological symptoms, while positive social support and community connectedness were bi-directionally associated over-time.
Conclusions
These findings highlight the potential utility of mental health interventions for displaced refugees as a means to improve social functioning and inclusion with host communities. Findings have important implications in guiding the development of interventions and allocation of resources to support refugee engagement and wellbeing in displacement contexts.
This study examines biased media portrayals of refugees, focusing on the contrast between Ukrainian and MENA refugees. It proposes a “politics-media cycle of reinforcement” where political agendas influence media narratives, and vice versa. This cycle amplifies racial bias, impacting how refugees are perceived. The research employs a comparative content analysis of Western media and political rhetoric. Findings reveal a stark difference: Ukrainians are seen as deserving victims, while MENA refugees face negative stereotypes. Interviews with media professionals and analysts support these conclusions. The study exposes racialized “othering” that marginalizes specific refugee groups. It confirms a more sympathetic portrayal of Ukrainians, likely due to political and racial factors. This research highlights the need for a more balanced and empathetic approach to all refugees.
The escalation of the armed Ukrainian conflict forced millions of refugees to cross borders into neighboring countries, such as Poland, Czech Republic, Republic of Moldova, and Romania. The objective of this manuscript is to report the mission of an Italian Emergency Medical Team (EMT), named CUAMM EMT, deployed to assist Ukrainian refugees sheltered in the Republic of Moldova.
Observations:
A total of 1,173 patients were admitted to the CUAMM EMT during the period of observation covered in this report (June - December 2022). The majority of patients (88.7%; n = 1,040) had health problems not directly related to the conflicts, while only 3.2% (n = 38) of patients presented diseases directly related to the event. With reference to the World Health Organization (WHO) Minimum Data Set (MDS), the most prevalent diagnosis (66.8%; n = 783) referred to “other diseases, not specified above” (Code 29). Among this group, the majority of diagnosis were attributable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases (23.4%; n = 177), gastrointestinal diseases (7.4%; n = 56), chronic musculoskeletal diseases (6.1%; n = 46), and cancer (4.7%; n = 36).
Analysis:
The most prevalent diagnoses faced by CUAMM EMT during its deployment referred to health problems not directly related to the conflict. Among them, the majority of cases registered were attributable to NCDs, raising interesting points of discussion concerning the management of these conditions during EMTs disaster deployment.
On 3 October 1990 the newly constituted federal states (Länder) joined an enlarged Federal Republic of Germany, as the Unification Treaty came into effect. Reunification had a fundamental impact on Berlin in just about every respect: topographically, in terms of borders, buildings, and infrastructure; socially, in terms of the economy, communities, culture, and life-styles; and also in the sphere of the imaginary, of self-representations and reflections, and selective preservation of traces of an always controversial past. A third of a century later, the divided Berlin of the Cold War era was becoming virtually unimaginable. Alongside major social and economic transformation, the landscapes of memorialisation became overwhelming. Berlin is perhaps unique among major capital cities in displaying such a level of national shame in public remembrance of the victims of its own previous misdeeds.
For refugee children, there are a number of risk factors for poor mental health and psychosocial well-being, many of them exacerbated for those refugee children living in low-resource settings. There is some evidence that caregiver warmth, parenting self-efficacy and positive relationships between caregivers and children can act as protective factors against poor mental health outcomes for children and adolescents. This study sought to assess if caregiver-level factors (parental warmth and affection, positive child-caregiver interaction and parenting self-efficacy) are protective for symptoms of child depression. To address these questions, a quantitative survey was implemented (n = 501) in the Imvepi refugee settlement in Uganda. Results indicated bivariate associations between several caregiver-level factors and child depression. However, in multivariate models, which included measures of economic stress, both parental warmth and affection and child-caregiver interaction were no longer significantly associated with child-reported depression. Parenting self-efficacy was found to be significantly associated with lower child-reported depression. These findings indicate the need to examine and explore how or if caregiver-level factors, such as warmth and parenting self-efficacy, as well as child-caregiver relationships overall, operate in the context of chronic stress. Whereas caregiver-level factors are potentially protective against poor mental health for refugee children, contextual factors, such as poverty and livelihood opportunities, may constrain the positive impacts of parenting.
The conclusion sums up the main arguments of the book on the formative albeit discreet role of caravan trade in the political economy of the Middle East both during and after the Ottoman period. It draws on this history to challenge recent directions in the history of the Middle East by advocating for inner perspectives on connections thanks to the crossing of endogenous documentation (in Arabic and in Ottoman) with foreign sources, more attention for legacy, resilience and slowness in a period of rapid technological and political transformation. The history of caravan supports a new way of considering the Middle East from inside. It also offers insights on the background of debates over past carbonisation and present decarbonisation.
This chapter critically examines the long-debated issue of Turkey’s state security and survival discourse through the lens of the securitisation logic of protection in order to unpack how the AKP government has used an expansive definition of security threat to allow for the suppression of the basic rights of dissenters by invoking the need to protect the state. The first section presents an historical account of the discourse on Turkey’s primary referent object of security – state survival (beka sorunu). The second section describes the Turkish state’s current security flagging of refugees as ‘risky outsiders’ and of those purged as ‘dangerous insiders’. The last section examines state authorisation of various auxiliary armed security agents and forces. I argue that in lieu of protecting its citizens, the AKP’s authoritarian securitisation state protects the state, the discursive ‘nation,’ and the security apparatus, a practice it legitimizes via a discourse of terrorism insecurity.
Virtual reality (VR) for mental health promotion remains understudied in low-income humanitarian settings. We examined the effectiveness of VR in reducing depression with urban refugee youth in Kampala, Uganda. This randomized controlled trial assessed VR alone (Arm 1), VR followed by Group Problem Management Plus (GPM+) (Arm 2) and a control group (Arm 3), with a peer-driven and convenience sample of refugee youth aged 16–25 in Kampala. The primary outcome, depression, was measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Secondary outcomes included: mental health literacy, mental health stigma, self-compassion, mental well-being and adaptive coping. Analyses were conducted at three time points (baseline, 8 weeks, 16 weeks) using generalized estimating equations. Among participants (n = 335, mean age: 20.77, standard deviation: 3.01; cisgender women: n = 158, cisgender men: n = 173, transgender women: n = 4), we found no depression reductions for Arms 1 or 2 at 16 weeks compared with Arm 3. At 16 weeks, mental health literacy was significantly higher for Arm 2 compared with Arm 3, and self-compassion was significantly higher in Arm 1 and Arm 2 compared with Arm 3. VR alongside GPM+ may benefit self-compassion and MHL among urban refugee youth in Kampala, but these interventions were not effective in reducing depression.
European countries have been important supporters of Ukraine since the 2022 invasion by Russia. Responding to the invasion, however, was not the only challenge facing these countries in 2022. A tough domestic economic situation caused by high inflation and skyrocketing energy prices gave rise to public resentment accusing governments of favoring Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees over their own citizens. Yet, communicating governments’ policies on Ukraine efficiently and having the public on board matters because lack of public support may endanger the countries’ ability to help Ukraine in the war. Given the importance of political communication, we use the case of Czechia to explore the role of empathy in political communication between Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees. We build on existing studies which suggest that empathy in communication has the potential to decrease polarization of public opinion and that candidates using empathetic communication are viewed more positively. First, in a rhetorical analysis, we demonstrate that empathy with citizens’ concerns is not a part of the government’s defense of its refugee policy. Then, in an original survey experiment, we show that contrary to expectations, expressing empathy with citizens’ concerns does not significantly increase public support for help to refugees.
The transnational movement of peoples across the globe is one of the most bitterly contested political issues of our times, eliciting populist anger against migrants and refugees. This public outcry has muffled, however, a more dramatic process: the contemporaneous reconfiguration of territory, rights, and jurisdiction. This chapter highlights the formation of “shifting borders” that enable states to create lawless zones as well as rightless subjects. It then explores a combination of juridical and democratic possibilities for resistance and claims-making in a world of shifting borders and cosmopolitanism without illusions.