Refugee Self-Management and the Question of Governance

Abstract

The author considers the organization of refugee camps as “communities” or “institutions” and takes the position that refugee camps are too institutional in character to establish or maintain traditional community-based supports. The implications that such definitions hold for camp governance and for the situation of refugee women, in particular, are discussed and the problematics for refugee self-governance are focused on the complex organizational boundaries drawn between UNHCR, NGOs and the camp refugees. A gendered framework is pivotal to the analyses.