The Refugee System: A Sociological Approach

Some people facing violence and persecution flee. Others stay. How do households in danger decide who should go, where to relocate, and whether to keep moving? What are the conditions in countries of origin, transit, and reception that shape people's options? This incisive book tells the story of how one Syrian family, spread across several countries, tried to survive the civil war and live in dignity. This story forms a backdrop to explore and explain the refugee system. Departing from studies that create siloes of knowledge about just one setting or ""solution"" to displacement, the book's sociological approach describes a global system that shapes refugee movements. Changes in one part of the system reverberate elsewhere. Feedback mechanisms change processes across time and place. Earlier migrations shape later movements. Immobility on one path redirects migration along others. Past policies, laws, population movements, and regional responses all contribute to shape states’ responses in the present. As Arar and FitzGerald illustrate, all these processes are forged by deep inequalities of economic, political, military, and ideological power. Presenting a sharp analysis of refugee structures worldwide, this book offers invaluable insights for students and scholars of international migration and refugee studies across the social sciences, as well as policy makers and those involved in refugee and asylum work.

Table of Contents:
Abbreviations 1.    A systems approach to displacement 2.    Who is a refugee? 3.    Making a legal refugee regime 4.    Should I stay or go? 5.    Exit 6.    Hosting in the many Global Souths 7.    Powerful hosts 8.    Transnational connections and homeland ties 9.    Conclusion References Acknowledgements

About the Author :
Rawan Arar is Assistant Professor in the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington. David Scott FitzGerald is Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California San Diego.

Review :
2023 Felicia Krishna Hensel Book Award ‘Honorable Mention’ from the Interdisciplinary Studies Section of the International Studies Association (ISA) “Arar and FitzGerald offer a truly comprehensive overview of what makes people able and willing to flee violence […]. The Refugee System will be useful to undergraduate and graduate students of migration, particularly because of its accessible language and composition […]. Besides students, the book will also benefit more seasoned migration scholars looking for a theoretical synthesis of recent debates in their field.” Ethnic and Racial Studies “In contrast to studies that often focus on how state policies impact migrants’ decisions, the authors demonstrate how migrants shape policies.” International Migration Review “This book [demonstrates] the value of using a systems approach to understand the refugee system. While it is challenging to empirically measure and capture all interactions between refugee drivers, actors, states, policies, and institutions involved, the book has shown that demographic analysis can benefit from using a holistic approach in the production of knowledge about refugees.” Raya Muttarak, Population and Development Review “A work of brilliance, Arar and FitzGerald’s The Refugee System illuminates the phenomenon in a way that no one has done before, providing an indispensable framework for understanding the causes and consequences of forced migration as well as the ways in which states and institutions have responded when faced with people fleeing violence and persecution.” Roger Waldinger, University of California, Los Angeles “A rich analysis of the ways in which migrants and refugees interact with entangled legal and political regimes. Arar and FitzGerald never lose sight of the people most affected by the phenomena under discussion: refugees themselves, and their communities.​” Laura Madokoro, Carleton University “During the past decade, the refugee issue dominated the world's media headlines and has risen to the very top of the global policy agenda. This groundbreaking book provides a uniquely comprehensive, systematic and humane analysis of this important topic.” Jeff Crisp, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford “Sociologists Arar and FitzGerald demonstrate the imperative of adopting a systems approach and expanding the general understanding of refugees beyond the restrictive legal definition to understand the politics and experiences of displacement that have shaped the world in the last three decades.” CHOICE “In their ambitious new book, The Refugee System, Rawan Arar and David FitzGerald set out to build a comprehensive framework through which to analyze the world’s major refugee systems. […] They propose a flexible, integrated framework of analysis that accounts for individuals, historic forces, and institutions.” Social Forces