Going Home to Fight? Explaining Refugee Return and Violence

This project examines why some returning refugees come to destabilize the peace process in their home country. Despite considerable literature on refugee warriorism in exile, there is no analysis of their role upon return. Likewise, the challenge of rein tegrating refugee warriors does not figure on the policy agenda. In this research project we hypothesize that the post-return role of refugee warriors relates to five types of factors: 1) The nature of peace; 2) State support; 3) Cohesion; 4) Humanitarian support; 5) Economic opportunities. We conduct in-depth case studies to examine two phases each of refugee return in Afghanistan and Rwanda, and use this to further refine and operationalize the conceptual framework. Next, we apply systematically compar ative case methodology, analyzing the return narratives from all post-1989 cases where there were militarized refugee settlements. We interact with quantitative studies on migration and conflict, both for case identification and conceptualization. The pr oject involves world-class scholars on migration and conflict from the USA, UK, Norway, Afghanistan and South Africa. It builds on an established partnership between PRIO and the Chr. Michelsen Institute and ongoing collaboration with the Centre on Migrat ion, Policy and Society at Oxford. The project will produce at least 3 articles for submission to international refereed journals, and a monograph by the project leader to be submitted to a major academic publisher. In addition, the project will publish popular articles and present its findings to policy-makers.