Unintended Consequences of Adjacency Claims: The Function and Dysfunction of Analogies between Refugee Protection and IDP Protection in the Work of UNHCR

This article examines the role of adjacency claims in the development of a norm for the international protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Consistent with existing scholarship on adjacency claims, the construction of analogies between refugee protection and IDP protection was instrumen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global governance 2019-10, Vol.25 (4), p.620-644
Main Author: Bradley, Miriam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Book publishing
Cohen, Roberta
Deng, Francis M
Immigration law
Immigration policy
Organizations
The Global Forum
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This article examines the role of adjacency claims in the development of a norm for the international protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Consistent with existing scholarship on adjacency claims, the construction of analogies between refugee protection and IDP protection was instrumental in garnering broad international acceptance of the IDP protection norm. However, these same analogies had an impact beyond the abstract acceptance of the norm. They were used to justify the expansion of the mandate of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to encompass IDPs, and they shaped the way UNHCR understands and implements IDP protection. UNHCR replicated its policy approach from refugees to IDPs, generating a dysfunctional approach to IDP protection. Therefore, adjacency claims can have an effect beyond garnering support for new norms, and may result in suboptimal governance arrangements for implementing those norms.
ISSN:1075-2846
1942-6720
1075-2846
DOI:10.1163/19426720-02504002