Refuge: Reading Journal #1

   In a world where there are more displaced individuals than at any time since World War II, our current approach to the refugee crisis is clearly not working. The introduction and first chapter of Alexander Betts' and Paul Collier's Refuge: Rethinking Refugee Policy in a Changing World explores the origins of our current refugee system and how and it has become antiquated for our current situations. In response to the many factors that can contribute to a fragile state and, consequently, displacement, our system must evolve from one of anachronistic humanitarianism to continued and effective international reaction.

1. Geopolitically, how does the acceptance of refugees from other countries affect international relations and/or contribute to further state fragility? 

2. Does the "Red Scare" (McCarthyism) rhetoric of our refugee system created in the 1940s reveal itself in the way that populations respond to refugee issues?