Catching Fire: Containing Forced Migration in a Volatile World

Catching Fire provides for the first time an in-depth analysis of political and humanitarian catastrophes in which forced migration characterizes the complexity of both the emergency and the response. In the volume, a host of expert contributors examine forced migration both within borders and beyond borders, exploring the varied circumstances that lead citizens to become refugees and evaluating the impact of relief programs on affected populations. They present the findings of a three-year, multi-disciplinary, international collaborative research project that focused on the causes of displacement, patterns of flight and settlement, and the consequences of conflict resolution and humanitarian assistance. Through comprehensive analysis of the ongoing conflicts in Burundi and Georgia, the crisis of displacement in Colombia, and the humanitarian crisis in East Timor, among other case studies, Catching Fire adds significantly to the ongoing debate between powerful states over the management of forced migration in the developing world. The volume is a must for policy makers, practitioners, and scholars of forced migration and international humanitarian response.

Catching Fire provides for the first time an in-depth analysis of political and humanitarian catastrophes in which forced migration characterizes the complexity of both the emergency and the response. The book examines forced migration both within borders and beyond borders, giving attention to the complex combination of circumstances in which refugees often find themselves and the impact of relief programs.

Nicholas Van Hear is a senior researcher at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), University of Oxford, prior to which he held research positions at the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford and at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen. Christopher McDowell is a Senior Lecturer in the International Policy Institute at King's College London and Director of the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees (ICAR).