How Did Global Politics Affect Refugee Flows In The Period 1945-1989?

2191 Words9 Pages

How did global politics affect refugee flows in the period 1945- 1989? Strictly, global politics is a discipline that studies the international political economy patterns and the relationship between Nation-states, non-governmental organizations, international organizations and multinational corporations. Broadly, global politics reflects the actual political and socio-economic context of the world in which actors (usually states) interact between themselves. Nearly a decade before 1989, Migration has become an element of high politics (Hollifield, 2008). As a matter of fact, migration flows have been in constant growth since 1945. Why the amount of refugees who are people forced to flee their country in order to escape persecution or …show more content…

In order to balance against the countries of the eastern bloc (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, East Germany, Hungary and USSR), the western countries (United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Iceland, Belgium and Luxembourg) allied with the United Stated and form the western bloc. Like this, the international structure divided in two blocs. This created a bipolar world in which The United States and the Soviet Union were the super powers that most states aligned to respectively. Communism spread into the Western Hemisphere, causing revolutions in Cuba, Nicaragua, and causing rebellions in several Latin America countries and African states. It also spread in Asia, resulting in wars in China, and Viet Nam, Korea, and other Southeast Asian countries. Fearing the spread of communism in Europe the United States sent aid to countries that otherwise might have turned to communism. What implications this political antagonism could have had on the refugee flows and what direction these flows would have …show more content…

The fundaments of this regime were the legal frame of the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the key role played by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which is known as the UN Refugee Agency. Moreover, other institutions have also made important contributions in the refugee situations. These international organisations were intergovernmental and nongovernmental (NGOs). The intergovernmental organisations were the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); whereas, the vast group of NGOs included International Rescue Committee (IRC), CARE International and Médecins Sans Frontiers

More about How Did Global Politics Affect Refugee Flows In The Period 1945-1989?