There are more than 27 million UN-recognized refugees in the world today. The UN Refugee Agency prioritizes three "durable solutions" to address their plight: voluntary return to the home country, local integration in a neighboring state, and resettlement to a third country typically in the Global North. Among these solutions, resettlement has been lauded for not only providing a lifeline, but a pathway to citizenship that can end the generational cycle of refugeehood. Yet less than one percent of refugees are resettled annually. Beginning from an understanding that this scarcity is politically and socially manufactured by states and humanitarian organizations, we seek to examine the scope and reach of refugee resettlement beyond its role as a migratory process. This special issue will explore historical and contemporary questions about how the institution of resettlement influences refugee hosting countries in the Global South, and the politics of those who offer resettlement as a “humanitarian” solution in the Global North, and thus shape refugees’ lives in enduring ways. We call upon scholars, policymakers, and humanitarian actors working at the intersections of international migration, political sociology, and human rights to critically examine resettlement as an institution.
What role does resettlement play in sustaining and perpetuating the global refugee system? We seek a broad range of contributions, including those that examine the following issues:
- As countries of resettlement are primarily located in the Global North, less attention has been paid to the role of resettlement in the Global South. We are interested in soliciting contributions that examine how resettlement operates in, and from, Southern hosts. How does resettlement act to gatekeep and contain refugees in the Global South?
- Resettlement is understood as a scarce resource only available to select refugees. We solicit contributions that examine how this scarcity operates. How does the hope for resettlement shape refugees’ lives in camps and urban areas?
- How is resettlement used as a political tool in the Global North? What role does it play in the context of scarce other pathways for mobility and refuge?
- How do refugees, humanitarians, and states navigate the power of resettlement? How does the infrastructure of resettlement operate in their daily lives?
- Resettlement is often framed as a passive process—something that happens to refugees, not done by refugees. We welcome contributions that examine resettlement as a site of resistance and agency. How do refugees and others take control of resettlement outcomes? Under what conditions do refugees actively resist resettlement?
