Refuge: Rethinking Refugee Policy in a Changing World [Paperback]

Global refugee numbers are at their highest levels since the end of World War II, but the system in place to deal with them, based upon a humanitarian list of imagined basic needs, has changed little. InRefuge, Paul Collier and Alexander Betts argue that the system fails to provide a comprehensive solution to the fundamental problem, which is how to reintegrate displaced people into society. Western countries deliver food, clothing, and shelter to refugee camps, but these sites, usually located in remote border locations, can make things worse. The numbers are stark: the average length of stay in a refugee camp worldwide is 17 years. Into this situation comes the Syria crisis, which has dislocated countless families, bringing them to face an impossible choice: huddle in dangerous urban desolation, rot in dilapidated camps, or flee across the Mediterranean to increasingly unwelcoming governments.

Refugeseeks to restore moral purpose and clarity to refugee policy. Rather than assuming indefinite dependency, Collier-author ofThe Bottom Billion-and his Oxford colleague Betts propose a humanitarian approach integrated with a new economic agenda that begins with jobs, restores autonomy, and rebuilds people's ability to help themselves and their societies. Timely and urgent, the book goes beyond decrying scenes of desperation to declare what so many people, policymakers and public alike, are anxious to hear: that a long-term solution really is within reach.

Part I: Why is there a Refugee Crisis?
Chapter 1. Global Disorder and Displacement
Chapter 2. The Time-Warp: Post War Institutions adrift in a Changed World
Chapter 3: The Panic

Part II: The Rethink
Chapter 4: Rethinking Ethics: the Duty of Rescue
Chapter 5: Rethinking the Humanitarian Silo: Making Safe Havens Easy to Reach
Chapter 6: Rethinking Needs: Jobs and the Need to Preserve Autonomy
Chapter 7: Rethinking Retulă•