Norms, Regulation and Refugee Agency: Negotiating the Regime

Prof. Dr. Kerstin von Lingen, Universität Wien, Institut für Zeitgeschichte Prof. Dr. Christoph Rass and PD Dr. habil Frank Wolff, Universität Osnabrück, IMIS This project argues that during the displacement crisis after World War II a new refugee regime emerged through multi-layered negotiation processes between the institutional and administrative level (UN organizations, nation states, various NGOs) and the persons categorized as migrants, refugees, displaced persons and other. By focusing on the negotiation processes we will present a new actor-based global history of the emerging refugee regime by analyzing (a) the role of international organizations and experts in formulating globally impactful policies; (b) the interaction of these organizations and norms with state and local actors, such as politicians, practitioners and experts; (c) the agency of victims of violence-induced mobility during the interactive process of norm application and resettlement. The overall project develops an analytical frame defined by (a) a scaled approach to the emergence of the postwar refugee regime based on a theoretical, praxeological and discursive analysis of power -based negotiation processes; (b) a shared core of sources (c) a process model from the postwar years into the 1950s which integrates legal and chronological dimensions of complex institutional changes; and (d) a GIS-based database and visualization tool for life-events on victims of forced migration to integrate data from the project parts and to disseminate results for a broader audience. Within this frame we develop three case studies to focus on specific aspects of negotiation between the governance and the autonomy of migration: (1) entry and status: norm formation and negotiation processes while entering and navigating the care system; (2) internal challenges: policies of health care within the camp infrastructure to manage displacement; (3) exit and status: processes of belonging and the negotiation for a permanent status like citizenship. Working together as one international research group we will produce monographs, conferences and panels, edited volumes/journal special issues and a website in order to convey the lessons learnt about post-1940s refugee resettlement. Our work relies on prime access to the recently digitized collection of the Arolsen Archives, the largest collection of case files on displaced persons and refugees, which awaits thorough study. This data will be linked with material from other international, national, and local archives, as well as non-archival sources such as refugee memoirs, media, and literature. Integrating migration studies with the history of societies at the junction of Second World War and Cold War allows us to analyze experiences and outcomes of the displacement crisis which shaped how we perceive, understand and deal with refugees and displacement in the present.