Failure and Hope Fighting for the Rights of the Forcibly Displaced

In 2015, sixty million people were displaced by violent conflict globally - the highest since World War II. National and international policy prevents the displaced from working or moving freely outside the camps set up to 'temporarily' house them. This policy has left the displaced with no right to work and move while they remain displaced for years, if not decades. Based on data on all 61 protracted displacement crises worldwide, fieldwork in seven conflict zones around the world, and in-depth interviews with over 170 humanitarian aid workers, government officials and refugees, this book systematically details the barriers to effective advocacy at every level of governance and shows that failure is the norm. Unlike many academic monographs, it goes further and proposes an alternative way forward that capitalizes on social entrepreneurship, crowd-funding and micro-finance to improve the lives of those that have been forced to flee their homes to find safety.

Acknowledgements; 1. Failure is the norm; 2. Global attention to displacement crises; 3. Explaining global attention: geopolitics vs advocacy; 4. Frontline advocacy: lobbying for refugee rights at the national level; 5. Frontline advocacy: advocating for rights in displacement camps; 6. Frontline mobilization: advocating for rights in displacement camps; 7. An innovative global campaign of action; 8. Conclusion; References.

Christine Mahoney is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Politics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Director of Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Virginia. She studies social justice advocacy and social innovation. Her book, Brussels versus the Beltway: Advocacy in the United States and the European Union (2008), was the first large-scale comparative study of lobbying in the US and the EU. She has also published in the Journal of Politics and many other publications.