Mobility and immobility : migrants and refugees

Abstract

Across the globe, barriers to migration are increasing and the number of forcibly displaced persons has reached levels not seen since World War II. But these “headlines” miss the real story. Overall, migration is in fact on the rise, particularly movement that does not necessarily result in settlement in the destination country. And the great crisis facing refugees is their immobility. They are forced out of their home states and then locked into countries of asylum. Scholarship can best address these issues through the lenses of mobility and immobility, focusing more on those who seek to move than the states that seek to regulate such movement.