The Geopolitics of Refugees

Abstract

The intersections and conversations between refugees and geopolitics have been surprisingly few. The issue of refugees has been studied more in the legal and security fields and attempts to analyze it have been based on issues related to these fields. However, another area of study through which refugee-related issues can be explored is geopolitics, since refugees are sometimes seen as a geographical source of power for actors. This research attempts to express the geopolitical nature of refugees and to establish an appropriate conceptualization of them. The results of the present study show that both traditional and critical geopolitical approaches can be applied to refugees. The geopolitical nature of refugees in the traditional approach is based on the actors’ one-sided view of refugees, in which they are exploited, their living conditions disregarded, and arguably they are held hostage. In the critical approach, the geopolitical nature of the refugee is based on actors’ comprehensive view of maintaining the security and increasing the quality of life of refugees, reducing their pain and suffering, and creating better living conditions at their destinations.