Driven out : Displacement and the challenge of forced migration

James Hollifield, "Driven out : Displacement and the challenge of forced migration" in The Wilson Quarterly, Humanity in motion : Scenes from the Global Displacement Crisis, Fall 2021, [en ligne]

As America’s televisions broadcast vivid images of migration crises from Afghanistan, Syria, and Myanmar to Venezuela and the U.S.-Mexico border, it seems little wonder that many feel a sense of crisis and loss of control.  

 But we must put the current crises into historical perspective, recognizing that migration, forced or otherwise, is not a new phenomenon in the annals of human history. 

The migration "crises" of today pale by comparison with the upheavals associated with the industrial revolution, imperialism, two world wars, and decolonization. The expansion and collapse of empires resulted in genocide, irredentism, the displacement of tens of millions of people, and the radical redrawing of national boundaries. 

Read the article