Jeff Crisp, UNHCR – Geneva
Introduction: In 2001, UNHCR’s Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit (EPAU) embarked upon a major study of protracted refugee situations, with funding provided by the US State Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration. Since that time, the notion of protracted refugee situations has become an increasingly familiar feature of the discourse on international refugee issues, especially in the African context.
Hitherto, however, a general analysis of this important humanitarian issue has been lacking. The current paper, which provides a synthesis of findings from the case studies and literature review undertaken by EPAU over the past two years, …

Gil Loescher, The International Institute for Strategic Studies – London
Introduction: As military and diplomatic plans develop for a US-led attack against Iraq, there has been little public discussion about the possibility of a mass exodus of Iraqi refugees as a consequence of this conflict. Nor has there been any consideration given to the implications of a refugee crisis on the security and stability of Iraq’s immediate neighbors in the Middle East. This is surprising, because for the last decade or more there have been massive cross-border flows of Iraqi refugees to neighboring states, creating regional instability and imposing social and …

David P. Forsythe, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Abstract: It is widely assumed that the international protection of refugees and displaced persons can be best understood by focusing on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), along with the hard and soft law or international regime associated with that office. It is not widely appreciated how much refugee law in its broad formulation overlaps with international humanitarian law and the associated traditions of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (also called the International Red Cross). It is the purpose of this essay to highlight this …

Will H. Moore, Florida State University
Stephen M. Shellman, Florida State University
Abstract: This study begins with the observation that while we have a reasonable understanding of the circumstances that lead countries to produce forced migration flows, scholars have yet to investigate the circumstances the lead some countries to produce a large number of internally displaced persons and relatively few refugees (or asylum-seekers) as opposed to a large number or refugees and relatively few internally displaced persons. The study builds on our previous work on forced migration to explore this question, and focuses on three groups of variables across two settings: violence; …

Rúben Hernández-León, University of California – Los Angeles
Víctor Zúniga, Universidad de Monterrey
Abstract: During the 1990s, the South became a major new destination for Mexican and other Latino settled immigration. This paper contends that as Mexican immigrants have moved in sizable numbers to atypical destinations, they have also mobilized social capital and funds of knowledge from the historical concentrations of Latino settlement (i.e. Los Angeles and Chicago) to new areas, such as the South. Using qualitative and descriptive quantitative data collected in Dalton, Georgia, a small city located in the southern Appalachia region, this article shows how previously accumulated social capital …

Zulema Valdez, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies and Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies
Abstract: Although entrepreneurial success is often attributed to reciprocity in “ethnic resources” or “social capital,” this explanation does not directly address ethnic groups with marginal business-ownership, such as among Mexicans, or non-immigrant, “non-ethnic” business-ownership, such as among Whites. Instead of focusing on ethno-cultural differences, this presentation suggests that three forms of economic integration-market exchange, reciprocity, and redistribution–combine to facilitate entrepreneurship in a market economy. Relationships of exchange occur within a market economy in which a group is situated. Likewise, reciprocity, such as ethnic resources, or redistribution, such as government …

Anna O. Law, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies and University of Texas – Austin
Abstract: This presentation examines the effect of overarching institutional norms on judicial behavior in the United States Supreme Court and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal in immigration cases. Law argues that distinct operational norms govern the different levels of the judiciary, causing the two courts to adopt divergent approaches to immigration cases. While the high court is mainly concerned with resolving grand questions of jurisprudence, the Circuit Courts of Appeals are more parochial in focus and attends to questions of procedural due process. Law attributes the difference …

Eytan Meyers, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Abstract: What explains multilateral cooperation leading to the free movement of labor? I examine the ability of two theories of regime formation (structural and game-theoretic approaches) and of two theories of integration (supranationalism and intergovernmentalism) to account for such cooperation. Based on a review of attempts to promote cooperation at the regional and inter-regional levels, and on a more detailed analysis of two case studies (the EU and ECOWAS), I demonstrate that none of the four theories adequately explains how multilateral cooperation with regards to the free movement of labor emerges. I then offer an …

Harlon Koff, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies
Abstract: Immigration has become one of the most prominent issues in world politics and one of the most studied phenomena in the social sciences. However, divergences exist between immigration as a political phenomenon and the response of the academic community to the issue. First, immigration issues are complex because they encompass questions related to almost every aspect of the host society. However, because of practical necessity and the recent focus in the social sciences on micro level analysis, migration research often addresses highly specific questions, rather than exploring the broader relationships among different arenas …

Daniel Chiquiar, University of California – San Diego
Gordon H. Hanson, University of California-San Diego and National Bureau of Economic Research
Abstract: In this paper, we use data from the Mexico and U.S. population censuses to examine who migrates from Mexico to the United States and how the skills and economic performance of these individuals compare to those who remain in Mexico. We test Borjas’ negative-selection hypothesis that in poor countries the individuals with the strongest incentive to migrate to rich countries are those with relatively low skill levels. We find that 1) Mexican immigrants, while much less educated than U.S. natives, …