The Law (and Politics) of Forced Displacement: Toward a History of the Present

It is a tremendous honor being here today and participating in this esteemed panel on the “Law (and Politics) of Displacement,” which Jill Goldenziel has organized. I would like to share some research Umut Özsu and I are working on. This is a work in progress, but I still think its outlines are worth discussion, by way of historical background. I hope the project also demonstrates quite well why several of us at the International Migration Law Interest Group at the American Society of International Law have been thinking that migration should become more central to the discipline of international law; as central, say, as international humanitarian law.