Norms, Regulation and Refugee Agency: Negotiating the Regime

During the “displacement crisis” after World War II, a new refugee regime emerged in multilayered negotiation processes between the institutional and administrative level (UN organizations, nation states, various NGOs) and the persons categorized as migrants, refugees, displaced persons and other. This German-Austrian cooperation project „Norms, Administration, and Refugee Agency: Negotiating the Regime“ explores these negotiation processes by presenting a new actor-based global history of the emerging refugee regime. This includes the analysis of (a) the role of international organizations and experts in developing globally formative policies; (b) the interaction of these organizations and norms with state and local actors, such as politicians, practitioners and experts; and (c) the agency of victims of violence-induced mobility during the interactive process of norm application and resettlement. Within this frame we develop three case studies to focus on specific aspects of negotiation between the governance and the autonomy of migration: the norm formation and negotiation processes while entering and navigating the care system with a particular interest in marginalized groups within the system; the internal challenges of policies of health care within the camp infrastructure to manage displacement; and practices of exiting the care-system through resettlement and the negotiations in of belonging and for a permanent status like citizenship. Integrating migration history and reflexive migration research with the history of societies will allow us to analyze experiences and outcomes of the displacement crisis which shaped how we perceive, understand and deal with refugees and displacement in the present.

More information:  https://nghm.hypotheses.org/3340