Page 215 - Encyclopedia Of World History

displaced populations, typology of 565

Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively,
once and for all. • Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971)

the causes, content, mechanisms, and consequences of ulations displaced because of wars, civil wars, and polit-
these two types of population movements. ical turmoil; (b) populations displaced by development
programs that change land or water use and build major
Types of Population new infrastructure; (c) populations displaced by organ-
Displacements ized persecution—ethnic, religious, racial; (d) popula-
Population displacements may differ among themselves tions displaced by environmental disasters—droughts,
in many respects.A ramified architecture of concepts has famines, floods, desertification, earthquakes, etc.; and (e)
been developed to define various types and subtypes of population displaced by the disintegration of state or by
such displacements. Differences result from the social or border changes.
natural causes of displacement, the various agents that While the main causes of population displacements
trigger and enforce displacements, the characteristics of differ, the consequences of displacement upon the af-
the socioeconomic sector within which displacement fected populations do have important common charac-
occurs, the resettlement locations where those displaced teristics: massive loss and destruction of assets, in many
end up, or some other important differentiating factors. cases loss of life; sudden drop in welfare and standards
The multiplicity and complexity of population displace- of living; prolonged uprooting, alienation, and unem-
ments have thus given birth to a bewildering series of ployment; cultural and identity loss; severe long-term psy-
notions, many of which “step on each other” and some- chological effects, political disempowerment, etc.Almost
times obscure rather than illuminate the issues, such as all such coerced displacements involve human and civil
“involuntary resettlers,” “displacees,” “refugees,” “asylum rights infringements. Social research has also concluded
seekers,” “environmental refugees,” “displacement,” “dias- that the negative effects are more severe on women than
pora,” “eviction,” “oustees,” “forced migrants,” “internal on men and on particularly vulnerable population seg-
evacuees,” “diasporization,” “conservation refugees,” ments such as children, the elderly, or indigenous groups.
“project-affected people,” and many others.
It is therefore necessary to employ a taxonomy of dis- Refugees and Internally
placed population that can introduce conceptual order by Displaced Peoples
using distinct criteria and classifications among these Using “space” as criterion, a basic typological distinction
populations. Each of these main criteria or classifications within displaced populations is based on where reloca-
casts its own rays of light, from different perspectives and tion takes place immediately after displacement. Regard-
angles, on the displaced populations. Examined from less of the cause of their displacement, the forcibly
many various angles, the same populations reveal differ- displaced people who cross a national border and settle
ent aspects of their movements and existence. This way, in a different state are defined with the concept of
the cumulated knowledge of the several typologies “refugees.” Those who remain within the borders of their
improves and broadens the understanding of population state are defined as “internally displaced people.” Thus,
displacement. the most encompassing umbrella concept is “displaced
populations” (as indicated before, a term more precise
Causal Typology than “forced migrants”).Within this umbrella concept, the
Explaining causality is essential for understanding the ori- principal politico-legal distinction usually made is
gin, identity, and composition of various displaced pop- between “refugees” and “internally displaced people.”
ulations, their basic needs, and the ways in which they The term “refugee” is sometimes employed loosely in
can be assisted. The principal typology constructed by common parlance or in the media to describe all those
social scientists consists of five clusters of massive popu- who have been forced to abandon their place of usual res-
lation displacements that differ by their causes: (a) pop- idence. However, international law gives a more precise