Books on the topic 'Post-war displacement'

This chapter focuses on the transformation of the relationship between the Lithuanian national intelligentsia and population as a result of the Great War and the Russian February revolution. For the elite the war became a mobilizing moment that shattered their narrowly based party politics and unleashed a wave of mass activism. The war and revolution created a space for the emergence of new political visions and identities. The chapter discusses population mobilization as a result of two major developments brought about by war: civilians’ experience of occupation in the Ober Ost and population displacement in Russia proper. The first was shaped by the shifting German war aims and their efforts to integrate the Baltic region as a political entity dominated by Germany. The second brought nationally minded refugee relief politics that precipitated mass mobilization during the early post-war years.

The decision to mount an armed foreign intervention is one of the most consequential that a US president can take. This book sets out to explain why and when presidents choose to use force. The book examines decisions to use force throughout the post-Cold War period, via flashpoints including the Balkans, the ‘War on Terror’ and the Middle East. It develops new explanations for variation in the use of force in US foreign policy by theorizing and demonstrating the effects of the displacement and repression of ideas within and across different US presidential administrations, from George H.W. Bush to Donald Trump. For students, scholars and anyone with an interest in international relations and global security, this book is an original perspective on a defining issue of recent decades.

This chapter analyzes historiography in several Balkan countries, paying particular attention to the communist era on the one hand, and the post-1989–91 period on the other. When communists took power in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia in 1944–5, the discipline of history in these countries—with the exception of Albania—had already been institutionalized. The communists initially set about radically changing the way history was written in order to construct a more ideologically suitable past. In 1989–91, communist dictatorships came to an end in Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Albania. Years of war and ethnic cleansing would ensue in the former Yugoslavia. These upheavals impacted on historiography in different ways: on the one hand, the end of communist dictatorship brought freedom of expression; on the other hand, the region faced economic displacement.

In 1950, the American Council for the Relief of Palestinians produced the first international documentary on the Palestinian refugee camps, Sands of Sorrow. Directed primarily at Christian churches and charities, the film’s tone was lightly didactic, its images striking and ethnographically attentive. An early example of the then relatively new genre of humanitarian advocacy, Sands of Sorrow invited its audience to focus on the human consequences of the mass displacement of the Palestinian Arabs, caused by the war and the creation of the State of Israel. That moral injunction came with some authority. The film was introduced by the American journalist, Dorothy Thompson, famous in the war years for her internationalism, anti-Nazi campaigns, and tireless support of Jewish refugees. This chapter discusses the politics of humanitarian compassion through Thompson’s writing and advocacy. One of the first to advocate for the rights of Jewish refugees in the late 1930s, Thompson scandalized U.S. opinion when she campaigned for Palestinian refugees. Refugees, she argued, were not simply one more humanitarian crisis, but the consequence of the failure of the post-war human rights regime to deal with the violence of state formation and the persistence of nationalism.

This book is about how a generation of writers and intellectuals in the mid-twentieth century responded to the emergence of a new category of person in the world: the modern refugee whose history, as has recently become clear once more, is also the history of the changing meanings of political and national citizenship in the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The introduction offers a critical review of how literary and legal history eventually ended up telling the same story about exile and statelessness in the post-war period: the exile, usually European, emerges as an individual of conscience and agency, a victim of persecution who, nonetheless, is of his time; and the exile’s others, the refugees, sometimes but usually not European, caught in the dehumanizing movements of mass displacement and whose existence is recognized neither by the humanism of human rights nor by literary history.

Between the Ottomans and the Entente is the first social history of the First World War written from the perspective of the Arab diasporas in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina. The war between the Ottoman Empire and the Entente Powers placed the half million Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian migrants living abroad in a complicated geopolitical predicament. As Ottoman citizens living in a pro-Entente hemisphere, Arab migrants faced new demands for loyalty by their host societies; simultaneously, they confronted a multiplying legal regime of migration restriction, passport control, and nationality disputes designed to claim Syrian migrants while also controlling their movements. This work tracks the politics and activism of Syrian migrants from the 1908 Young Turk Revolution through the early French Mandate period in the 1920s. It argues that Syrian migrant activists opposed Ottoman rule from the diaspora, collaborating with the Entente powers because they believed this war work would bolster the cause of Syria’s liberation from Unionist rule. Instead, the Entente Powers used support from Syrian migrant communities to bolster colonial claims on a post-Ottoman Levant. This work captures a series of state projects to claim Syrian migrants for the purposes of nation-building in the Arab Middle East, and the efforts of Syrian migrants to resist the categorical schema of the homogenous nation-state and policies of partition and displacement.

The study is funded by Doha International Family Institute (DIFI), a member of Qatar Foundation, and is a collaboration between the Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration of London, Ontario; University of Guelph, Ontario; and University of Calgary, Alberta, all located in Canada; and the Doha International Family Institute, Qatar. The study received research ethics approval from the University of Guelph and the University of Calgary. This study aims to assess the impact of pre- and post-migration on marital relationships and family dynamics for Arab refugee families resettled in Canada. The study also examines the role of professional service providers in supporting these Arab refugee families. The unique experiences of Arab families displaced from their countries due to war and political conflict, and the various hardships experienced during their stay in transit countries, impact their family relations and interactions within the nuclear family context and their interconnectedness with their extended families. Furthermore, these families encounter various challenges within their resettlement process that interrupt their integration. Understanding the impact of traumatic experiences within the pre-migration journey as well as the impact of post-migration stressors on recently settled Arab refugee families in Canada provides insight into the shift in spousal and family relationships. Refugee research studies that focus on the impact of pre-migration trauma and displacement, the migration journey, and post-migration settlement on family relationships are scarce. Since the majority of global refugees in recent years come from Arab regions, mainly Syria, as a result of armed conflicts, this study is focused on the unique experiences of Arab refugee families fleeing conflict zones. The Canadian role in recently resettling a large influx of Arab refugees and assisting them to successfully integrate has not been without challenges. Traumatic pre-migration experiences as a result of being subjected to and/or witnessing violence, separation from and loss of family members, and loss of property and social status coupled with experiences of hardships in transit countries have a profound impact on families and their integration. Refugees are subjected to individual and collective traumatic experiences associated with cultural or ethnic disconnection, mental health struggles, and discrimination and racism. These experiences have been shown to impact family interactions. Arab refugee families have different definitions of “family” and “home” from Eurocentric conceptualizations which are grounded in individualistic worldviews. The discrepancy between collectivism and individualism is mainly recognized by collectivist newcomers as challenges in the areas of gender norms, expectations regarding parenting and the physical discipline of children, and diverse aspects of the family’s daily life. For this study, we interviewed 30 adults, all Arab refugees (14 Syrian and 16 Iraqi – 17 males, 13 females) residing in London, Ontario, Canada for a period of time ranging from six months to seven years. The study participants were married couples with and without children. During the semi-structured interviews, the participants were asked to reflect on their family life during pre-migration – in the country of origin before and during the war and in the transit country – and post-migration in Canada. The inter - views were conducted in Arabic, audio-recorded, and transcribed. We also conducted one focus group with seven service providers from diverse sectors in London, Ontario who work with Arab refugee families. The study used the underlying principles of constructivist grounded theory methodology to guide interviewing and a thematic analysis was performed. MAXQDA software was used to facilitate coding and the identification of key themes within the transcribed interviews. We also conducted a thematic analysis of the focus group transcription. The thematic analysis of the individual interviews identified four key themes: • Gender role changes influence spousal relationships; • Traumatic experiences bring suffering and resilience to family well-being; • Levels of marital conflict are higher following post-migration settlement; • Post-migration experiences challenge family values. The outcome of the thematic analysis of the service provider focus group identified three key themes: • The complex needs of newly arrived Arab refugee families; • Gaps in the services available to Arab refugee families; • Key aspects of training for cultural competencies. The key themes from the individual interviews demonstrate: (i) the dramatic sociocul - tural changes associated with migration that particularly emphasize different gender norms; (ii) the impact of trauma and the refugee experience itself on family relation - ships and personal well-being; (iii) the unique and complex aspects of the family journey; and (iv) how valued aspects of cultural and religious values and traditions are linked in complex ways for these Arab refugee families. These outcomes are consist - ent with previous studies. The study finds that women were strongly involved in supporting their spouses in every aspect of family life and tried to maintain their spouses’ tolerance towards stressors. The struggles of husbands to fulfill their roles as the providers and protec - tors throughout the migratory journey were evident. Some parents experienced role shifts that they understood to be due to the unstable conditions in which they were living but these changes were considered to be temporary. Despite the diversity of refugee family experiences, they shared some commonalities in how they experi - enced changes that were frightening for families, as well as some that enhanced safety and stability. These latter changes related to safety were welcomed by these fami - lies. Some of these families reported that they sought professional help, while others dealt with changes by becoming more distant in their marital relationship. The risk of violence increased as the result of trauma, integration stressors, and escalation in marital issues. These outcomes illustrate the importance of taking into consideration the complexity of the integration process in light of post-trauma and post-migration changes and the timespan each family needs to adjust and integrate. Moreover, these families expressed hope for a better future for their children and stated that they were willing to accept change for the sake of their children as well. At the same time, these parents voiced the significance of preserving their cultural and religious values and beliefs. The service providers identified gaps in service provision to refugee families in some key areas. These included the unpreparedness of professionals and insufficiency of the resources available for newcomer families from all levels of government. This was particularly relevant in the context of meeting the needs of the large influx of Syrian refugees who were resettled in Canada within the period of November 2015 to January 2017. Furthermore, language skills and addressing trauma needs were found to require more than one year to address. The service providers identified that a longer time span of government assistance for these families was necessary. In terms of training, the service providers pinpointed the value of learning more about culturally appropriate interventions and receiving professional development to enhance their work with refugee families. In light of these findings, we recommend an increased use of culturally integrative interventions and programs to provide both formal and informal support for families within their communities. Furthermore, future research that examines the impact of culturally-based training, cultural brokers, and various culturally integrative practices will contribute to understanding best practices. These findings with regard to refugee family relationships and experiences are exploratory in their nature and support future research that extends understanding in the area of spousal relationships, inter - generational stressors during adolescence, and parenting/gender role changes.

The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is the longest-running dispute in Eurasia. This study looks beyond tabloid tropes of ‘frozen conflict’ or ‘Russian land-grab’, to unpack both unresolved territorial issues left over from the 1990s and the strategic rivalry that has built up around them since then. Unstable and overlapping conceptions of homeland have characterised the Armenian and Azerbaijani republics since their first emergence in 1918. Seventy years of incorporation into the Soviet Union did not resolve these issues. As they emerged from the Soviet collapse in 1991, Armenians and Azerbaijanis fought for sovereignty over Nagorny Karabakh, leading to its secession from Azerbaijan, the deaths of more than 25,000 people and the forced displacement of more than a million more. Since then, the conflict has evolved into an ‘enduring rivalry’, a particularly intractable form of long-term militarised competition between two states. Combining perspectives rarely found in a single volume, the study shows how these outcomes became intractably embedded within the regime politics, strategic interactions and international linkages of post-war Armenia and Azerbaijan. Far from ‘frozen’, this book demonstrates how more than two decades of dynamic conceptions of territory, shifting power relations, international diffusion and unsuccessful mediation efforts have contributed to the resilience of this stubbornly unresolved dispute – one of the most intractable of our times.