Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System. By Alexander Betts and Paul Collier

In discussing the spontaneous movement of Syrian refugees to Europe in 2015 in the first pages of Refuge, Betts and Collier aptly identify what occurred in 2015 as not a crisis of numbers but “a crisis of politics” (p. 2). It is in response to this crisis of politics that the authors have written this book with the objective of outlining a “workable system that can sustainably offer sanctuary to the world’s refugees […] while working within the constraints of the contemporary world” (p. 234). By presenting thoughtful and sometimes provocative proposals such as advocating for a development-based approach to refugee protection that prioritizes refugee autonomy through economic opportunities and the creation of safe-havens in proximate states, Refuge encourages its readers to seriously reflect on the ethical and political principles that underpin the current refugee regime. Refuge begins by providing a comprehensive and highly instructive overview of the Syrian refugee crisis paired with an excellent historical analysis of the current international refugee regime and the role that its origins in post-WWII and Cold War Europe has played in its inability to meet the challenges of today’s world. The heart of the book, however, comes in the second part. In brief, the core proposals of Refuge can be divided into three categories. The first seeks to redefine the objectives of refugee protection. In it, the authors argue for a shift away from the use of persecution as the basis for refugee claims in favor of grounding the ethical case for refugee assistance in the duty of rescue. This duty is understood as providing both a strong moral basis for refugee assistance and yet imposing limits on the right to enter other countries. Using the well-known analogy of a bystander watching a child who has fallen into a pond cry out for help, the authors assert that the plight of refugees evokes the “raw compassion that is at the bedrock of the human condition” (p.100). Our duty to rescue refugees is fundamentally a consequence of our belonging to a moral community that extends beyond the boundaries of our political community. Moreover, the authors argue that the duty to rescue obliges us, insofar as it is feasible, to restore life “as closely as possible to pre-refuge conditions” (p. 107).

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