Refugees and other forced migrants are one of the great contemporary challenges the world is confronting. Throughout the world people leave their home countries to escape war, natural disasters, and cultural and political oppression. Unfortunately, even today, the international community struggles to provide an adequate response to this vast population in need.

This Very Short Introduction covers a broad range of issues around the causes and impact of the contemporary refugee crisis for both receiving states and societies, for global order, and for refugees and other forced migrants themselves. Gil Loescher discusses the identity of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons and how they differ from other forced migrants. He also investigates the long history of the refugee phenomenon and how refugees became a central concern of the international community during the twentieth and twenty first centuries, as well as considering the responses provided by governments and international aid organisations to refugee needs. Loescher concludes by focussing on the necessity of these bodies to understand the realities of the contemporary refugee situation in order to best respond to its current and future challenges.

ABOUT THE SERIES:
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
1: Refugees: a brief history
2: Who are refugees and how do they differ from other migrants?
3: How critical is today's refugee crisis?
4: Root causes of forced migration
5: Strengths and limitations of present legal, institutional, political and local responses to refugees
6: The global refugee situation today
7: Understanding current realities and present and future challenges
Further reading
Index

Gil Loescher , Visiting Professor, Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford

Gil Loescher was a Visiting Professor, Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford,he was also a longstanding author and authority on UNHCR and global refugee policy issues.