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...conflicts. introductory model to the micro foundations of return (and relocation) is presented here. This model is intended to provide tools for better understanding of the way violence affects individuals, and more concretely of the way individuals react and cope with ir. Particular emphasis is given here to the role played by security concerns (originating in the conflict) in the decision-making process.
Resume
Les personnes deplacees devraient etre considerees comine 'acteurs qualifies' pour decider non seulement de certains des choix qui s'offrent a elles dans la vie, mais egalement lorsqu'il s'agit de certains resultats finaux decoulant des conflits violents et des politiques en matiere de gestion des conflits. Les courants et tendances en matiere de reinstallation et de retour representent un element essentiel de tels resultats eu egard a beaucoup de conflits contemporains, plus particulierement les conflits d'ordre ethniques. Un modele preliminaire sur les micro-fondements du retour (et de la reinstallation) est propose ici, dans le bur de fournir des outils pour une meilleure comprehension des effets de la violence sur les individus, et plus concretement la maniere dont les individus y reagissent et y font face. L'emphase est particulierement mise sur le role que jouent les preoccupations liees a la securite (ayant leurs origines dans le conflit) dans le processus decisionnel.
Introduction
When talking about refugees and persons who are displaced as a result of violent conflict, we are implying a double disruption in people's lives. On the one hand, violence has erupted into their lives and it has become a major force shaping them. On the other hand, they have been forced to leave their homes, which in many cases means they are no longer able to lead the kind of life they led before.
Refugees (1) have had their lives affected in a most dramatic way by "politics by other means.'' (2) And they continue to have it, as long as their available life options continue to be conditioned by the scenarios of conflict settlement and resolution, the actual peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peacebuilding strategies and interventions, the available humanitarian assistance and the international and local refugee regimes.
Having this in mind should lead to a profound reflection about the hierarchy of concerns present in the policies addressing "politics by other means." Are the rights and lives of over 30 million persons the primary concern? (3) Do questions of political interests, political pragmatism, or political idealism come first? Must they?
Apart from such reflections, the recognition of refugees as persons whose life options have been overwhelmed by political designs and developments should also draw attention to the way these persons not only are affected by these developments, bur also to the way they react to them and cope with their situation. In doing so, they become (and should be considered) relevant actors in determining not only some of their life options, but also some of the final results of "politics by other means" and policies addressing them. It is relevant, then, not only from a humanitarian point of view, to interrogate ourselves about the way violence (and the threat of violence) impacts individuals and groups. And, more specifically, to interrogate ourselves about the way individuals and groups cope with it and react to it.
Looking at Return from the Micro Level
There is no doubt that the relocation process unchained by the conflict is the one aspect in which refugees are probably most conditioned and limited by the both policies and "politics by other means. Not only because of the original forced movement, but also regarding where and how they (may) end up, either temporarily or on a more permanent basis. Freedom of movement is usually hampered for most refugees and displaced persons, either in a formalized way or in an effective way, subject to different asylum regimes, refugee centres' regulations, rampant insecurity, or a stark lack of resources and livelihood alternatives as a result of war and displacement? Obviously, policies and "politics by other means" have a major say as well in preventing, facilitating, or pushing the reversal of the original move. However, not all the variation found in the patterns of return and relocation can be explained through such macro factors. Otherwise it would be hard to explain the variable rates and patterns of return between locations most similar in their background and structural features, such as the municipalities of Zvornik and Vlasenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina, for instance. (5) In order to understand what is involved in such a process, we need to look at the micro level and understand the social processes and mechanisms unchained by political violence.
Micro Foundations for Return
We tend to assume the return to the place of origin, from which people were forced to leave, as a natural move. And there are sound reasons for this. (6) Firstly, there are the illegitimacy of the reason that pushed the fleeing, the brutality and violation of human rights involved, and the injustices generated in the process. (7) The restoration of the situation, reversing what was done, is therefore perceived as a matter...
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