What Do We Owe to Refugees?

by David Owen

Who are refugees? Who, if anyone, is responsible for protecting them? What forms should this protection take? In a world of people fleeing from corrupt governments, civil wars, state failure, famine and environmental disasters, these are politically urgent and ethically pressing questions.

In this book, David Owen reveals how the contemporary politics of refugee protection is structured by two rival pictures of refugees, and traces their roots in the history of refugee protection. By reconstructing this history, he proposes a way of understanding the value and purpose of the institution of refugeehood that moves us beyond our current impasse. Distinguishing between what is owed to refugees in general and what is owed to different types of refugee, Owen provides a clear account of the responsibilities of refugee protection and the forms of international co-operation required to discharge them.

At a time when refugee protection is once again prominent on the international agenda, this book offers a guide to understanding the challenges it raises and why addressing it matters for all of us, citizen and refugee alike.

133 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 20, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Luca Gatto · Rating 4 out of 5]

In questo piccolo libro, Owen espone la sua teoria sull’assetto del sistema di protezione dei rifugiati. Una visione innovativa e convincente che meriterebbe di essere presa in considerazione a livello di cooperazione internazionale. Un libro interessante, ricco di informazioni utili per chi si vuole affacciare per la prima volta nel settore dell’asilo e del rifugio.

[Kiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is super important, but (and by no fault of its own) it is a political science paper that is not always straightforward to read and makes its points in very field-specific ways without connecting them to related fields and broader societal vision. I suppose this now turned into the review "the book is what it is but not the book I wanted". I do think though that many policy makers or members of the public are unaware of the important points the author makes: like the difference between asylum seekers and climate and temporary refugees and how grouping all of these people into a single category harms prospects of everyone across this highly inhomogeneous group. Similarly the discussion about division of responsibility was so illuminating, but ultimately disconnected from policy suggestions (which, again, the author intentionally abstained from making).
Overall, I cannot judge how high quality this piece is within its specialized community, and while I as an outsider appreciated its points, I would really want more accessible and broader version of this book.

[Alex Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Academic and theory-heavy. His thesis is that refugees can be migrating to seek refuge, sanctuary or asylum. He develops this over a four short chapters.