Escape from Violence Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World [Hardcover]

The magnitude of refugees movements in the Third World, widely perceived as an unprecedented crisis, has generated widespread concern in the West. This concern reveals itself as an ambiguous mixture of heartfelt compassion for the plight of the unfortunates cast adrift and a diffuse fear that they will come pouring in. In this comprehensive study, the authors examine the refugee flows originating in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and suggest how a better understanding of this phenomenon can be used by the international community to assist those in greatest need. Reviewing the history of refugee movements in the West, they show how their formation and the fate of endangered populations have also been shaped by the partisan objectives of receiving countries. They survey the kinds of social conflicts characteristic of different regions of the Third World and the ways refugees and refugee policy are made to serve broader political purposes.

Informative, provocative. --Journal of Asian Studies

A valuable contribution to our understanding. --Political Science Quarterly

What makesEscape from Violenceso important is that it is at once historical, theoretical, empirical, and practical. [The book] takes the reader--even the informed reader--far beyond what is available in 'the literature' by providing a different cut on the problems, particularly on the question of state formation and conflicts over the nature of the social order, and by not only reviewing the 'root causes' of refugee flows but suggesting how they might be dealt with in the future. The combination of creative thinking and realism could turn the work into a blueprint for action if those who have the power to influence social policy take the suggestions seriously. --Peter I. Rose,Smith College

A mature statement of a theory, and supporting cases, of the relationships between causes of social conflict and the refugee implications. Tl��