Voting Rights of Refugees [Hardcover]

A novel legal argument about the voting rights of refugees recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention.This book on the legal and political predicament of refugees recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention will interest legal scholars, researchers and students in the areas of refugee law, human rights law and international law. Its coverage of the interrelations of citizenship and voting will also appeal to political scientists.This book on the legal and political predicament of refugees recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention will interest legal scholars, researchers and students in the areas of refugee law, human rights law and international law. Its coverage of the interrelations of citizenship and voting will also appeal to political scientists.Voting Rights of Refugees develops a novel legal argument about the voting rights of refugees recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention. The main normative contention is that such refugees should have the right to vote in the political community where they reside, assuming that this community is a democracy and that its citizens have the right to vote. The book argues that recognised refugees are a special category of non-citizen residents: they are unable to participate in elections of their state of origin, do not enjoy its diplomatic protection and consular assistance abroad, and are unable or unwilling, owing to a well-founded fear of persecution, to return to it. Refugees deserve to have a place in the world, in the Arendtian sense, where their opinions are significant and their actions are effective. Their state of asylum is the only community in which there is any prospect of political participation on their part.Foreword Guy S. Goodwin-Gill; Acknowledgements; Table of cases; Table of statutes; Table of treaties and other international instruments; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Status and Rights of Recognised 1951 Convention Refugees in International Law: 1. Recognised CSR1951 refugees in context; 2. Rigl³Á