The Rise and Decline of a Global Security Actor: UNHCR, Refugee Protection and Security

The Rise And Decline Of A Global Security Actor Investigates The Rise Of The United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (unhcr) As A Global Security Actor. It Follows The Refugee Agency Through Some Of The Past Two Decades' Major Conflict-inducing Humanitarian Emergencies : In Northern Iraq (1991), Bosnia (1991-95), Eastern Zaire (1194-96), Kosovo (1998-99), Afghanistan (2001-) And Iraq (2003-). It Analyses Unhcr's Momentous Transformation From A Small, Timid Legal Protection Agency To The World's Foremost Humanitarian Actor Playing A Central Role In The International Response To The Many Wars Of The Tumultuous Last Decade Of The 20th Century. Then, As The 21st Century Set In, The Agency's Political Prominence Waned. It Remains A Major Humanitarian Actor, Whose Budgets And Staffing Levels Continue To Rise. But The Polarised Post-9/11 Period And A Worsening Protection Climate For Refugees And Asylum Seekers Spurred Unhcr To Abandon Its Claim To Be A Global Security Actor And Return To A More Modest, Quietly Diplomatic Role. Introduction: The Rise And Decline Of A Global Security Actor -- From Explaining To Constructing Security : A Conceptual Analysis -- Victims Or Threats? : Placing Displacement On Three Security Agendas -- Institutional And International Developments -- The 1950s To 1970s : Timidity And Restraint In Unhcr's Discourse -- The 1980s : A Political Turn -- The 1990s : Adopting And Adapting A Security Discourse -- The 2000s And Beyond : Return Of A Protection Discourse -- Unhcr's Rise As A Global Security Actor : Northern Iraq, 1991 -- A Humanitarian Star : Lead Agency In Bosnia, 1991-95 -- Protection Disaster In Eastern Zaire, 1994-96 -- How Success Became Failure : The Kosovo Crisis, 1998-99 -- Challenges Of Protection After 9/11 -- Repatriating Afghan Refugees -- Conclusion: The Ongoing Quest For Power, Independence And Relevance. Anne Hammerstad. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.