Refugees, ethnic power relations, and civil conflict in the country of asylum

The security consequences associated with refugee flows are among the most widely studied aspects of forced migration. While the majority of this research program has focused on how refugee movements affect the risk of political violence, scant scholarly attention has been paid to violence perpetrated against refugees. Building upon the state repression literature, we argue that refugees are particularly vulnerable to the violation of their physical integrity rights in the wake of terrorist attacks in host states. Governments are pressured to respond to security crises but prefer to take actions without jeopardizing public support. In this context, refugee groups can be strategically attractive targets of repression because they lack electoral power and citizens are often supportive of government crackdown against foreigners in times of security crises. Given that leaders have stronger incentives to respond to voters’ demands quickly in democracies, we expect the effect of terror attacks on violence against refugees to be stronger in democratic host states. Using a novel global dataset on anti-refugee violence between 1996 and 2015, we show that refugees are more likely to be exposed to violence by the coercive agents of the state in the wake of security crises. We provide suggestive evidence that the repression of refugees is more consistent with a scapegoating mechanism than the actual ties and involvement of refugees in terrorism. The findings reveal that the well-being of uprooted populations is particularly at risk when host countries face a security threat.

Section: Research Design and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

From protection to persecution: Threat environment and refugee scapegoating

Savun

Gineste

2018

“…Underlying public concerns regarding hosting migrant populations – even among populations otherwise supportive of compassionate policies toward refugees – are concerns about undue burdens placed on local welfare provision and economic performance (Scheve & Slaughter, 2001; Wike, Stokes & Simmons, 2016), as well as perceived threats to security (Salehyan & Gleditsch, 2006; Salehyan, 2008; Böhmelt, Bove & Gleditsch, 2018; Fisk, 2018; Rüegger, 2019). These concerns fit within the perspective that immigration is a ‘state of the nation’ issue with attitudes shaped by concerns about the impact on broader society, rather than personal circumstances (Hainmueller & Hopkins, 2014; Hatton, 2016).…”

Section: Individual Attitudes Towards Immigrants and Refugeesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Violence, displacement, contact, and attitudes toward hosting refugees

Ghosn¹,

Braithwaite²,

Chu

2018

How do individuals’ personal experiences with various aspects of political violence affect their attitudes toward hosting conflict refugees? More specifically, how do their personal exposure to violence, their own personal experience of being displaced, and their recent contact with refugees influence these attitudes? To explore answers to these questions, we draw upon a recent survey of 2,400 Lebanese residents where we identify individuals who experienced violence during the Lebanese civil war (1975–90), those forced to flee their homes during that conflict, and those who enjoy recent contact with Syrian immigrant and/or displaced populations. We examine whether these distinct experiences affect respondents’ regard for members of the Syrian refugee population. Results demonstrate that historical exposure to violence and experience of displacement have no discernible impact on individual attitudes toward hosting refugees. We find much stronger evidence that attitudes are associated with whether individual respondents have had contact with Syrians in Lebanon; those with such interactions are significantly more likely to support hosting refugees, to consider hiring a refugee, or to allow one of their children to marry a refugee. Our findings suggest exposure to violence by itself does not correlate to positive sentiments toward refugees, especially over time. Further, finding ways to create positive contact between refugees and native populations may be associated with improving attitudes and relations between the two populations.

“…Therefore, it is critical to take into account the ethnicity of refugees rather than treating them as a homogenous group. Rüegger (2019) argues that by strengthening their co-ethnic groups demographically, refugees may enable these groups to challenge the predominance of other political groups and upset the ethnic equilibrium in host states. Only when refugees share ethnicity with excluded domestic groups in host states does the risk of civil conflict appear to increase.…”

Section: Contributions To This Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Refugees, forced migration, and conflict: Introduction to the special issue

Braithwaite

Salehyan

Savun³

2018

Few issues in international politics have dominated public debates, both in domestic and international arenas, as much as refugee movements across borders in recent years. By the end of 2017, more than 68.5 million people – one in approximately every 110 people on the planet – had been displaced from their homes, either as internally displaced persons (IDPs) or as refugees, due to violent conflict, persecution, famine, or natural disasters. This article introduces a special issue on refugees, forced migration, and conflict. It describes the evolution of the international refugee regime and identifies theoretical and methodological advances in the relevant literature. It concludes with a discussion of the individual contributions to the issue, which seek to address gaps in the literature with respect to explaining motivations for refugee departures, understanding the relationship between refugee populations and political instability in host countries, and tracking public attitudes towards hosting refugee populations.