Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System - Softcover

Refuge is the first comprehensive attempt in years to rethink from first principles a system hidebound by old thinking and hand-wringing. Its ideas demand a hearing ('Books of the Year 2017' Economist)

[A] brilliant polemic ... [Refuge] is very strong on diagnosis ... [Betts and Collier] come up with a number of ingenious remedies (Robert Fox Evening Standard)

Brilliant ... Instead of making the usual hand-wringing humanitarian gestures, Betts and Collier have come up with some mind-blowingly simple, practical solutions, particularly for refugees from fragile or war-torn states (Sarah Baxter Sunday Times)

This book is a rare and wonderful thing: a work of politically engaged scholarship with a trenchant analysis and original solutions ... Betts and Collier can look at the bigger picture. They may thereby have helped to improve millions of lives (David Goodhart Standpoint)

A brilliantly argued book... It's a call to action and it's absolutely needed (Sayeeda Warsi)

A page-turner (Nomia Iqbal BBC Asian Network)

Based on careful historical and economic analysis, Refuge proposes win-win-win improvements for the world's 20 million international refugees. The integration of refugees encamped across the borders of their homelands into the economies of their hosts will contribute to their hosts' development; dispel the refugees' loss of hope; and further allow them to contribute to their homelands, if it is ever safe for their return. Refuge is the seminal work on one of the world's most important problems (George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics 2001)

This book is both timely and radical. But is also down to earth and practical. It is time to stop spouting the same old mantras about the existing refugee conventions and look at how we can best genuinely help refugees both now and in the future. Collier and Betts point the way (David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010-2016))

Refugees and policy makers need practical answers to what is now a global crisis. This valuable book represents the kind of can-do thinking that we need to see (David Miliband, International Rescue Committee)

This book is a must-read on one of the defining issues of our time. As the number of refugees reaches record highs, Refuge takes us beyond the simple emotional versus political split of the migration debate, by offering smart, practical solutions to address the global crisis. As such, every policymaker, and concerned citizen should read it! (Dambisa Moyo, author of 'Dead Aid' and 'Winner Takes All')

Europe is facing its greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War, yet the institutions responding to it remain virtually unchanged from those created in the post-war era. Going beyond the scenes of desperation which have become all-too-familiar in the past few years, Alexander Betts and Paul Collier show that this crisis offers an opportunity for reform if international policy-makers focus on delivering humane, effective and sustainable outcomes - both for Europe and for countries that border conflict zones. Refugees need more than simply food, tents and blankets, and research demonstrates that they can offer tangible economic benefits to their adopted countries if given the right to work and education. Refuge sets out an alternative vision that can empower refugees to help themselves, contribute to their host societies, and even rebuild their countries of origin.