Books & ideas

The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum

Chowra Makaremi — 2021-02-15T08:00:00Z

As the European border control agency is being criticized for its violent methods, the European Commission is working on a reform of the European Union migration policy. In this interview, the legal scholar Elspeth Guild explores the relation between decision making and the reality of migrations.

Democracy With or Without Borders

Camille Pascal — 2020-01-02T08:00:00Z

Can a state exclude people in the name of the common good? What gives legitimacy to definitions of borders and belonging? In this work of political theory, B. Boudou argues for a pragmatic, democratic and shifting approach to borders: only shared interests can define a community.

Island of Refuge

Daniel Lee — 2019-05-23T07:00:00Z

During the first years of World War II, an escape route allowed political refugees to travel from France to Martinique. On the island, the interactions between exiles and the local population resulted in a rich intellectual cross-fertilization. E.T. Jennings' book is the first account of this exodus.

Making Refuge in a Neoliberal Country

Yasmine Bouagga — 2019-04-04T06:00:00Z

How do refugees experience everyday life in the United States? Anthropologist Catherine Besteman investigates the trajectories of Somalian refugees in Lewinston, Maine, from their application for resettlement to their struggles in a world that disrupts their social organization and their way of living.

Jordan and Syrian Refugees

Kamel Doraï — 2017-02-20T08:00:00Z

While the spotlight is focused on the arrival of Syrian refugees in Europe, researcher Kamel Doraï reminds us that the main countries concerned are primarily those in the region. Jordan is among the countries that has received the highest number of Syrians, sharpening economic and social tensions in a country already gripped by the presence of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees.

Judging Homosexuality, Granting Asylum

Carolina Kobelinsky — 2016-10-03T07:00:00Z

Asylum applications on the grounds of sexual orientation, although uncommon, raise questions that are relevant to any asylum claim: according to what criteria and what level of persecution are “genuine” refugees distinguished from “bogus” ones? And what is meant by this policy of proof?

The “Refugee Crises” of the 16th and 17th Century

Isabelle Poutrin — 2016-08-29T07:00:00Z

In the early modern period, Spain and Portugal carried out dramatic mass expulsions that affected more than half a million people of Jewish or Muslim faith. Revisiting the fate of these populations helps to put into perspective the refugee crisis that the world is currently facing.

Europe and its Political Refugees in the 19th Century

Sylvie Aprile & Delphine Diaz — 2016-04-18T07:00:00Z

The revolutions of the 19^th century led to the emergence of a new figure – that of the political refugee – and to new policies for receiving such individuals. But then as now, the uncertainty of the vocabulary used in this context reflected the contradictory position of European states in the face of the right to asylum, caught somewhere between the duty to protect and the fear of strangers.