Law and Asylum

In contrast to the claim that refugee law has been key in guaranteeing protection for refugees, this book argues that law has been instrumental in eliminating spaces of protection, not just from one’s persecutors, but also from the grasp of sovereign power. By uncovering certain fundamental aspects of asylum as practised in the past and in present day social movements, this work demonstrates that asylum has historically been antagonistic to law, and vice versa. To illustrate the complex ways in which these two paradigms – asylum and refugee law – interact with one another, the book examines the Sanctuary Movement in the US and the Sans-Papiers of France.