Free World?
The Campaign to Save the World's Refugees, 1956–1963

A unique study of a postwar campaign by the UN, NGOs, governments and individuals to address the global refugee crisis.

Peter Gatrell (Author)

9780521174817, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 August 2016

278 pages, 22 b/w illus.
23 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.42 kg

'This is a commendable book, rich with details showing Gatrell's fine research skills.' American Historical Review

Free World? is a major contribution to the transnational history of humanitarianism in the postwar world. Peter Gatrell shows how and why the UN, NGOs, governments and individuals embarked on a unique campaign, World Refugee Year (1959–60), in response to global refugee crises, particularly in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. Adopted by nearly one hundred countries, the campaign galvanised public opinion and raised money by enlisting celebrities, using the mass media, and recreating 'refugee camps' in the affluent West. Free World? assesses the causes and consequences of the refugee crises, locates the campaign in the broader geopolitical context of the Cold War and decolonisation and shows how it helped to inspire subsequent campaigns such as Amnesty International and Freedom from Hunger. Ultimately, the book asks how those who are in a more privileged position might better reflect on their responsibilities towards refugees in the modern world.

Introduction
1. Free World?
2. Sites of confrontation, crucibles of displacement: towards World Refugee Year
3. World Refugee Year: the politics of a global campaign
4. World Refugee Year presences and absences
5. Bricks or dynamite? Achievements, disappointments, opportunities
Conclusion. Global politics, humanitarianism and refugees in the modern era.

Subject Areas: Human rights [JPVH], International relations [JPS], General & world history [HBG]