Migration, Refugees, and the Stateless

Although the forces that drive migrations, create refugees, and turn citizens into the stateless are fairly well understood, the same cannot be said of how those who are not migrants, refugees, or stateless ought, can, or do respond to those who are. Similarly, our understanding of how best to design–or the impact of–national and local policies toward such classes of people by those countries to which they gravitate is at best opaque.

Questions here include: how to model and measure the value of a human life under conditions of displacement? What are the acceptable, optimal or feasible limits, if any, on levels of immigration to a country? What is the legal status of migrants to a country? Is any sort of international cooperation toward a migration policy feasible or enforceable? What are the implications of different political systems with respect to migration or refugees? What are the principal factors that account for conflict or cooperation between citizens and immigrants in a given country?

The issues involved here are multidimensional and progress on understanding them almost surely requires multiple methods. In an effort to promote and encourage such a multidisciplinary approach, therefore, this conference brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines (politics, economics, sociology and social psychology) to share research progress on at least some of the important questions and to identify others where research is most urgent.