TY  - INPR
JF  - American Political Science Review
TI  - The Journey Home: Violence, Anchoring, and Refugee Decisions to Return
Y1  - 2021/05/17/
A1  - Ghosn, F
A1  - Chu, TS
A1  - Simon, M
A1  - Braithwaite, A
A1  - Frith, M
A1  - Jandali, J
N1  - This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images
or other third party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license,
unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license,
users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this
license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
UR  - http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000344
N2  - While the UNHCR promotes voluntary repatriation as the preferred solution to refugee situations, there is little understanding of variation in refugees' preferences regarding return. We develop a theoretical framework suggesting two mechanisms influencing refugees' preferences. First, refugees' lived experiences in their country of origin prior to displacement and in their new host country create a trade-off in feelings of being anchored to their origin or host country. Second, firsthand exposure to traumas of war provides some refugees with a sense of competency and self-efficacy, leading them to prefer to return home. We test these relationships with data from a survey among Syrian refugees hosted in Lebanon. We find refugees exposed to violence during the war have a sense of attachment to Syria and are most likely to prefer return. Refugees who have developed a detachment from Syria or an attachment to Lebanon are less likely to prefer return.
ID  - discovery10128917
AV  - public
ER  -