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A podcast of this seminar is now available. 


This talk, based on Dr Alexander Betts' new book, will explore the challenge of responding to new drivers of cross-border displacement that fall outside the existing refugee framework. Rather than beginning with particular causes of displacement – whether environmental change, food insecurity or generalized violence – it offers a human rights-based framework through which to critically consider who, in a changing world, should be entitled to cross an international border and seek asylum.

Based on extensive fieldwork, it grounds its analysis in an exploration of contemporary flight from three of the most fragile states in the world: Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. It explains the massive variation in national and international institutional responses in the neighbouring states, arguing that politics rather than law ultimately determines how the refugee regime is implemented in practice.

Refreshments will be provided after the event.

About the speaker

Dr Alexander Betts is University Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Refugee Studies and Forced Migration at Oxford University and Director of the Humanitarian Innovation Project. He is the author of Survival Migration: Failed Governance and the Crisis of Displacement (Cornell University Press). 

Contact

If you require special access or for any enquiries about this event, please contact:

Email: rsc@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 281707

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