ABSTRACT
While many migrants have limited choices regarding if and when they migrate, refugees have been recognized by a state or international body as having left their country and as being unable to return because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political belief, or membership in a particular social group. Once recognized as a refugee, one option for achieving permanent protection from persecution is resettlement. In this chapter I will explain what resettlement is, give a brief history of resettlement and related policies for managing refugees, and describe the different approaches countries have to resettlement. I will then provide a summary of the existing research on how refugees have experienced resettlement, and what needs refugees have that resettlement policies have (or have not) attempted to meet. Finally I will lay out new directions in which the study of refugee resettlement could move.
