Refuge Beyond Reach

How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-0-19-764984-8
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 376 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 232 mm, Gewicht: 544 g

Refuge beyond Reach shows how rich democracies deliberately and systematically shut down most legal paths to safety.

Media pundits, politicians, and the public are often skeptical or ambivalent about granting asylum. They fear that asylum-seekers will impose economic and cultural costs and pose security threats to nationals. Consequently, governments of rich, democratic countries attempt to limit who can approach their borders, which often leads to refugees breaking immigration laws.

In Refuge beyond Reach, David Scott FitzGerald traces how rich democracies have deliberately and systematically shut down most legal paths to safety. Drawing on official government documents, information obtained via WikiLeaks, and interviews with asylum seekers, he finds that for ninety-nine percent of refugees, the only way to find safety in one of the prosperous democracies of the Global North is to reach its territory and then ask for asylum. FitzGerald shows how the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia comply with the letter of law while violating the spirit of those laws through a range of deterrence methods--first designed to keep out Jews fleeing the Nazis--that have now evolved into a pervasive global system of "remote control." While some of the most draconian remote control practices continue in secret, Fitzgerald identifies some pressure points and finds that a diffuse humanitarian obligation to help those in need is more difficult for governments to evade than the law alone.

Refuge beyond Reach addresses one of the world's most pressing challenges--how to manage flows of refugees and other types of migrants--and helps to identify the conditions under which individuals can access the protection of their universal rights.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fitzgerald, David Scott

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Staats- und Verfassungsrecht Staatsangehörigkeitsrecht
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Gesellschaftstheorie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie

Über Autor(innen)

David Scott FitzGerald is Theodore E. Gildred Chair in US-Mexican Relations, Professor of Sociology, and Co-Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California San Diego. His research analyzes policies regulating migration and asylum in countries of origin, transit, and destination. FitzGerald's books include Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas, which won the American Sociological Association's Distinguished Scholarly Book Award, and A Nation of Emigrants: How Mexico Manages its Migration.