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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE REFUGEES CRISIS 3

Annotated Bibliography on the Refugees Crisis

Kaleena Springsteen

GEN 499 General Education Capstone

David Benders

May 7, 2018

Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE REFUGEES CRISIS 1

Annotated Bibliography on the Refugees Crisis

Introduction

Thousands of persons flee their homes because of wars, natural disasters, and persecutions in the hope of findings safer and better places for their survival. They cannot return to their homes because of safety concerns. Currently, there are millions of refugees across the globe, thereby leading to a crisis. The problem has been driven by the political instability in the Middle East, which as, in turn, provided the terrorist groups with the ideal conditions to conduct their activities. Also religious persecutions, such as the Rohingya Muslims problem in Myanmar have played a leading role in the increased number of refugees across the globe. Refugees experience numerous challenges upon leaving their homes. They are forced to live in tents in the camps where they lack access to basic needs and social amenities. Over the years, the United Nations through the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) have been assisting these persons with the essential commodities. However, the increasing number of refugees implies that a single organization cannot sustain their needs alone.

Thesis statement: Thus, the global community needs to find collective approaches of solving the conflicts that affect international community to prevent persons from fleeing their homes and enabling those in the refugees’ camps to return to their homes.

The Annotated Bibliography

Abdullahi, A. M. (1994). The Refugee Crisis in Africa as a Crisis of the Institution of the State. International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 6, Issue 4, Pages 562–580. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/6.4.562

According to the journal, scarcely any nation in Africa has been spared from the adverse effects of the internal displacements and refugees. These challenges are driven by the internal contradictions among the African states, which can be rectified only through changing the institutions and structures. The refugee situation in Africa is modeled largely on the colonial institutions that have little regard for the nations’ peculiarities. Thus, the exclusion of ethnic factors during the partitioning of the continent and its later management has played a crucial role in the onset and development of the refugee problem in Africa. In the journal, Abdullahi explores how the failures of the individual states have made it difficult for the continent to solve the refugee crisis. He says that this challenge is driven by the crisis of the governments that, in turn, makes the administrations unable to find societal balance and juridical viability. These conditions prevent the states to distribute resources equally among the different ethnic nationalities, thereby creating internal conflicts. The political and social wrangles break up the state institution hence leading to persons fleeing their home nations. This sources provides crucial insights on the refugees crisis as it covers the African continent, which has played a crucial role in the refugee problem. In the article, the author argues that this problem has been driven by the unequal distribution of resources among the various ethnic communities, thereby creating tensions among them. These conflicts lead to the collapse of governments, thereby causing instabilities. Consequently, people have to leave their homes nations in search of safer places. Therefore, this challenge can be solved in Africa through the administrations implementing initiatives that would advocate for equality.

Furtak F.T. (2015). The Refugee Crisis - A Challenge for Europe and the World. J Civil Legal Sci. 5:163. doi:10.4172/2169-0170.1000163.

According to this article the European nations have been struggling to find a durable solution for the refugee crisis since the beginning of the Arab Spring in late 2010. The condition has been facilitated by the increasing number of refugees, especially because of the Syrian war and the armed conflicts in Burundi, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Somalia. Moreover, the European countries, such as Greece have been facing a huge debt crisis, which has led to the other members of the European Union (EU) to implement aid programs to enable the states with large debts to recover. According to the reports of the UNHCR, there are more than 60 million refugees across the globe because of wars, generalized violence, or persecutions. Thus, the EU is divided deeply on the effective ways of dealing with the crisis due to the economic challenges that the region is facing. The journal is important for this topic because it shows how the refugee problem compromises the stability of states. The dilemma that the EU nations face to allow the refugees into their nations shows that the problem can only be solved by solving the armed conflicts. The approach would ensure that no one leaves his or her home country in search of a safer place.

Gibney, M., & Loescher, G. (2010). Global refugee crisis: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.

According to this book, the global refugee challenge offers an overview of the global immigration situation and an alternative way of conceptualizing the human rights issue and protection of refugees’ interests. Currently, there are more than 40 million persons who have been forced to flee their homes because of political oppression and violence. The book says that the fair treatment of employees is a human rights issue. However, it entails the protection of non-nationals, thus offering an expansive explanation of the human rights issue. The outlook implies that nations have the responsibility of taking care of refugees under the international law. Therefore, the effective way of managing the refugee crisis according to the book is by treating the entire challenge as a human rights issue. The outlook would ensure that the international community comes together to find long-lasting solutions to the conflicts that lead to people leaving their homes in search for safer places.

Mavelli, L., & Wilson, E. K. (2016). The refugee crisis and religion: Secularism, security and hospitality in question. New York: Rowman & Littlefield International.

According to this article, the current refugee that is sweeping across Europe and other parts of the globe intersects with the neglect of the question of religion. Mavelli & Wilson (2016) say that the international community should move beyond the issue of religious differences while developing the initiatives to manage the refugee crisis. Instead, it should look at how the religious perspectives and traditions inform the current views and practices towards the refugees. The authors of this book believe their approach would enable the policymakers to develop creative ways of solving the refugee crisis, which is compromising the global stability. Here, the book looks at how the religious divide shapes the policies implemented to help the refugees. The authors show how the hospitality traditions of Muslims and Christians can be used to develop effective measures to manage the crisis.

Poddar, S. (2016). European Migrant Crisis: Financial Burden or Economic Opportunity? Social Impact Research Experience SIRE. 43. http://repository.upenn.edu/sire/43.

According to Poddar in the journal, the refugee crisis is the major challenge that the European Union is facing since its establishment in 1993. The problem has been driven by the wars and political instability across the Middle East, which has led to millions of persons moving to Europe with the aim of seeking for asylum. Consequently, the members of the EU have been required to spend billions of Euros on the refugees, a condition that is threatening their fiscal stability. However, the journal argues that members of the EU can benefit from the crisis by utilizing the human resources that the refugees come with. Over the years, European nations have been facing the challenge of an aging workforce. However, they can solve the problem by allowing the refugees into their nations, with majority of them being young persons. Therefore, another effective way of dealing with the refugee problem is by exploiting the economic opportunities that they present to their host nations.

References

Abdullahi, A. M. (1994). The Refugee Crisis in Africa as a Crisis of the Institution of the State. International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 6, Issue 4, Pages 562–580. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/6.4.562

Furtak F.T. (2015). The Refugee Crisis - A Challenge for Europe and the World. J Civil Legal Sci. 5:163. doi:10.4172/2169-0170.1000163.

Gibney, M., & Loescher, G. (2010). Global refugee crisis: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.

Mavelli, L., & Wilson, E. K. (2016). The refugee crisis and religion: Secularism, security and hospitality in question. New York: Rowman & Littlefield International

Poddar, S. (2016). European Migrant Crisis: Financial Burden or Economic Opportunity? Social Impact Research Experience SIRE. 43. http://repository.upenn.edu/sire/43.