Editorial Essay: Iraqi Refugees, Beyond the Urban Refugee Paradigm

Authors

  • Géraldine Chatelard Independent
  • Tim Morris Independent

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.36083

Keywords:

Iraq, Iraqi refugees, forced displacement, urban refugees, policy

Abstract

Displacement and exile have been recurrent and durable phenomena affecting Iraqi society for the last 90 years. The process of forming an Iraqi state from the ruins of the Ottoman empire, which Aristide Zolberg has analyzed as a prime factor generating refugee flows, has been ongoing since 1920. Unfinished endeavours to build a state and nation have been characterized by almost incessant antagonistic claims over the nature of the state and national identity, the exercise of and access to political power, control of natural resources and border sovereignty. Political repression, violent regime change, redefinition of national identity, demographic engineering, and domestic or international armed conflicts have resulted in eviction, deportation, denaturalization, political emigration, and flight from violence. A large part of displacement in Iraq has been internal. But vast numbers of refugees and exiles have also formed a regional and global diaspora extending from Iran, Jordan, Israel, Syria, all the way to such distant emigration countries as New Zealand.

Metrics

PDF views
1,737
Jan 2013Jul 2013Jan 2014Jul 2014Jan 2015Jul 2015Jan 2016Jul 2016Jan 2017Jul 2017Jan 2018Jul 2018Jan 2019Jul 2019Jan 2020Jul 2020Jan 2021Jul 2021Jan 2022Jul 2022Jan 2023Jul 2023Jan 2024Jul 2024Jan 2025Jul 2025Jan 202661
|

Published

2012-11-08

How to Cite

Chatelard, G., & Morris, T. (2012). Editorial Essay: Iraqi Refugees, Beyond the Urban Refugee Paradigm. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 28(1), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.36083

Issue

Section

Introduction

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.