Paper details

Paper authors	Ingunn Bjørkhaug
In panel on	Managing governance of forced displacement and refugee crises: can lessons be learned from the host communities?
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

The 2018 Global Compact aim for refugee protection which two key elements are to ease the pressure on host countries and to enhance the refugee’s self-reliance. How can these be combined when a large influx of refugees must live side by side with a host population which finds themselves in dire circumstances?

This paper discusses the paradox of hospitality and conflict which takes place in a refugee setting in Nakivale, Uganda. A displacement situation can create a competitive structure that influence the refugee–host relationships and in turn shapes a displacement economy based on the competition for scarce resources. When refugees enter the scene, an international regime is activated, providing them resources and rights that can position the refugees to compete with the host population for additional resources. Furthermore, in a cyclical pattern, the relationships reshape the structure, and the structure re-forms the relationships. This paper extends beyond the often-assumed dichotomy of refugees as a burden or benefit. Instead, it seeks understand the varying dynamics at play in displacement contexts. This can be shifting dynamics which can create both inter-dependence and competition for resources among and between refugees and their host communities.

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