Refugees, Self-Reliance, Development: A Critical History

Description

Evan Easton-Calabria's critical history of refugee self-reliance assistance brings new dimensions to refugee and international development studies. The promotion of refugee self-reliance is evident today, yet its history remains largely unexplored, with good practices and longstanding issues often missed. Through archival and contemporary evidence, this book documents a century of little-known efforts to foster refugee self-reliance, including the economic, political, and social motives driving this assistance. With five case studies from Greece, Tanzania, Pakistan, Uganda, and Egypt, the book tracks refugee self-reliance as a malleable concept used to pursue ulterior interests. It reshapes understandings of refugee self-reliance and delivers important messages for contemporary policy making. The first chapter is available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Evan Easton-Calabria is Senior Researcher at the Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, US, and Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK.

"In this excellent book, Evan Easton-Calabria shows that refugee self-reliance has a century-long and deeply political history. Drawing upon exemplary archival research, she unveils the array of external interests and power relations that have shaped livelihoods programmes for displaced people. This is essential reading for anyone concerned to think critically and constructively about the past, present, and future of refugee policy." Alexander Betts, University of Oxford "Two things stand out about this book: the clear, jargon-free language, and the historical insights into the widely promoted humanitarian goal of self-reliance with its focus on earning income. Evan brings a critical but fair perspective, and a wealth of experience." Karen Jacobsen, Tufts University