Violence, Integration, and Return: Decisions of Syrian IDPs, Refugees, and Hosts

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Conflict in Syria has created millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees. Such extensive conflict-induced migration poses many questions for researchers. This panel examines several of these questions. The papers employ multi-method analyses that include fieldwork, experiments, and quantitative methods for rigorous analysis of Syrian internal displacement, host-refugee interactions, attempts at integration in host countries, and refugee return. Within Syria, Lichtenheld and Schon use network methods and interviews to examine how IDP flows influence violence. Outside Syria, Getmansky, Matakos, and Sinmazdemir use an experiment to examine factors that contribute to the successful social, economic, and ethnic integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Mourad examines interactions between Syrian refugees and hosts in Lebanon through an analysis of variation in the implementation of municipal curfews targeting Syrians. Chu, Simon, Ghosn, Braithwaite, and Frith use an experiment conducted with Syrian refugees in Lebanon to examine decisions of whether and when to return to Syria. All together, these papers contribute to understandings of how Syrian refugees and their hosts make a wide array of decisions with humanitarian and security implications.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 21: Conflict Processes

Individual Presentations

• The Journey Back: Factors Influencing Refugees’ Decisions to Return - Tiffany Chu, University of Arizona; Michael James Frith, UCL; Faten Ghosn, University of Arizona; Alex Braithwaite, University of Arizona; Miranda Soledad Simon, University College London

• The Consequences of Internal Displacement on Conflict Dynamics - Justin Schon, University of Florida

• Local Politics Beyond Borders: The Diffusion of Anti-Syrian Curfews in Lebanon - Lama Mourad, University of Pennsylvania

• Considerations on the Integration of Syrian Refugees in Turkey - Tolga Sinmazdemir, Bogazici University; Anna Getmansky, London School of Economics; Konstantinos Matakos, King's College London

Chair

• Justin Schon University of Florida

Discussant

• James Igoe Walsh University of North Carolina, Charlotte