Have we (really) done enough? Strengthening “outcome responsibility” in assessing moral duties toward refugees of protracted crises

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 10 September 2024 

(Author Version PDF)

Brace for Impact: An Assessment of Moral Duties toward Palestinian Refugees in a Worst-Case Scenario

Abstract: How can we understand our moral duties toward protracted refugees in a non-ideal world, where perpetrators of injustice go unpunished, and the refugees they created must be cared for by others? This article examines the Palestinian refugee crisis through the lens of the meaning-based model (MBM), which emphasizes a revised conception of outcome responsibility and social connections between host communities and refugees. Using a hypothetical scenario where Israel occupies all of Palestine and expels its inhabitants, the model demonstrates how certain communities should ethically shoulder additional duties in resettling displaced individuals, specifically assessing Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Britain, and the United States. It argues that, even if such a worst-case scenario does not occur, these communities should assume the same duties toward currently protracted Palestinian refugees who need new homes. The article concludes with a comparison of how the MBM envisions a morally fairer allocation of Palestinian refugees and the current realities on the ground.

Ethical Positioning and its Role in Understanding Attitudes toward Refugees within Host Communities

Abstract: How plausible is the claim that communities’ lack of ethical assessments toward refugees contributes to xenophobic environments? Can the perception of moral responsibility be included among the independent variables that explain public attitudes toward refugees? Is the gap I observe between the worlds of ethics and empirical studies real, and if it is, can I prove this empirically? In this respect, I have decided to test the moral hypothesis in my dissertation by utilizing quantitative research methods. I participated in my colleague Yunus Emre Orhan's experimental research on the democratic backsliding process in Turkey (the pre-analysis plan can be reached at: https://osf.io/wnc36/). I have designed the conjoint experiment within this research to understand the relationship between the Turkish community’s level of “sense of ethical duty” toward Syrians and its support for anti-refugee policies – by using “public resentment” as a mediating variable. The NSF supported this project with $15,000, and a polling firm executed the survey in Turkey in March 2022 with 2,534 participants. This conjoint experiment tests the plausibility of introducing a novel variable (i.e., outcome responsibility-based sense of ethical duty, or ORSED) to explain public resentment against refugees. 

Revisiting the Moral Relevance of Repatriation and Self-Responsibility in Refugee Crises: The Case of Bosnia

Abstract: Do communities’ moral duties toward refugees end when a political solution to their crisis is found? By taking up the “forced repatriation” cases in the Bosnian crisis, I argue that we should morally question our expansive reading of the right to repatriation. What exactly do we owe those refugees who do not wish to return to war-torn countries? Do our duties end when the fighting stops? An equally significant question to ask is whether the political communities fulfill their duties toward themselves. In the Bosnian case, the ceasefire and the subsequent political settlement did not provide permanent peace for the warring entities. After so many years, the Bosnian political community is still divided along ethnic lines. What would be the international community's moral responsibility toward Bosnian refugees if the hostilities were to be renewed? Given the fact that Bosnians had more than a quarter century to fix their domestic political problems, would it be morally plausible to claim that the international community's duties toward new Bosnian refugees should be less powerful than before? 

The Limits of "Enough": An Ethics-Based Model for Allocating the Burden of Refugee Displacement

Abstract: One recent example of the increased resentment against refugees worldwide has been the complete reversal of the Turkish community’s initially welcoming attitude to Syrian refugees. This case reveals a crucial question: when do we have the right to claim that our community has done “enough” for a particular refugee group? The literature provides different answers to this question. In this article, I approach this puzzle from a normative standpoint. Without utilizing an ethics-based burden-sharing model, I argue, the discussions on our communities’ duties and complaints about being overburdened in a given case lack an ethical basis, contributing to the worsening of negative public sentiments. This article introduces the “meaning-based model” (MBM) as a possible way to determine political communities’ moral obligations toward different refugee groups in various crises. I then turn to the analysis of the Syrian crisis with the MBM’s help to identify communities’ moral duties, in light of which I discuss the moral justifiability of the resentment within Turkish society.

Mind the Gap Please: Unearthing the Oblivion between the Ethics of Forced Displacement and Empirical Public Attitudes Studies

Nobody Wants to Play with Me: An Alternative Theory on Determining Communities’ Moral Obligations in Protracted Refugee Situations

This book is a combination of my dissertation and the results of our experimental research on the Outcome Responsibility-based Sense of Ethical Duty (ORSED). The book consists of four main parts. The first part examines the normative and empirical literature and discusses why we need an ethics-based model for distributing duties toward refugees. The second part presents empirical research, underlining the results that show how the lack of ethical assessments increases anti-refugee sentiments within host communities. The third part introduces the meaning-based model as a possible remedy. The final part examines different case studies (Palestine, Bosnia, and Syria) to demonstrate how the model could be applied to real-life situations.

Examining the Moral Implications of Self-Responsibility in Refugee Cases

One of my long-term projects concerns my realization that protracted refugee situations contain various aspects where refugees can be effective agents. Although conventional wisdom views refugees as “victims,” the prolongation of their crises adds different dimensions to their situation. As time passes, their initially “agency-free” circumstances evolve in such a way that they can choose to shape their future. Still, many deadlocked processes contain deliberately repeated mistakes, supporting disunity, and blocking solutions. In this respect, questioning the plausibility of looking for “self-responsibility” in refugee cases and whether the presence of such responsibilities should reduce other communities’ moral duties toward refugees appear to be necessary. I am preparing myself to get involved in this topic, which seems to have the potential of being a crucial work area in the ethics of forced displacement.