Re-imagining the refugee

This article will set out to conduct a comparative examination of the inter-war period with the present conflict in the Middle East in the context of human displacement. Through the essays of Hannah Arendt, Georgio Agamben and Edward Said, which deal with the historical plight of migrants, guest workers and refugees, it will deconstruct the nation state in order to delineate its relation to human displacement. Against this backdrop, and after presenting trends on the rise of mega cities and the number of people living outside their countries of origin, it will then argue that visible outcomes of increased globalization include the dilution of rigid borders, interconnected human collectives across nation states and, eventually, inclusive cities – an international system centred on the migrant and not the citizen. The article will conclude by making a case for the rewriting of laws to make the refugee, rather than the citizen, the basis of our political-juridical framework.