This book examines refugee and asylum policy in the United States since the end of the Cold War. For over forty years, from the end of World War II to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War had provided the ideological lens through which the United States had defined who a refugee was. Cold War concerns about national security and the political, economic, and military threat of communism had shaped the contours of refugee and asylum policy. In the post-Cold War era, the war on terrorism has become the new ideological lens through which the US government interprets who is worthy of admission as a refugee but the emphasis on national security is not the sole determinant of policy. A wide range of geopolitical and domestic interests, and an equally wide range of actors, influence how the United States responds to humanitarian crises abroad, and who the nation prioritizes for admission as refugees and asylees. This book examines these actors and interests, and the challenges of reconciling international humanitarian obligations with domestic concerns for national security. The case studies in each chapter examine the challenges of the post-Cold War era, and the actions taken by governmental and non-governmental actors in response to these challenges.
National Security and Good Governance: Dynamics and Challenges