Alison Betts
Biographic Data
| ID | 212711 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alison Betts |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alison |
| FAMILY NAME | Betts |
| SIGNATURE | BETTS A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oxford |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3691-765X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 116 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 669 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 114 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1982 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
The Refugee Trap: The Economics of Displacement
Refugee movements are one of the defining issues of the Twenty-First Century. But what difference does it actually make to be a refugee? To what extent are refugees economically distinctive compared to citizens or other groups of migrants? Drawing upon original data collected in camps and cities across East Africa, The Refugee Trap shows that becoming a refugee changes the economic constraints people face in important ways; they confront a series…
Ancient human-environment interactions in the Tianshan mountains: Wood charcoal evidence from Adunqiaolu, Western China
Authoritarian legacies: How 1970s African dictators shaped contemporary refugee policies
Published online: 14 March 2026
The EU’s Normative Dissensus on Migration: How National Identities Shaped Responses to the European Refugee Crisis
During the so-called European refugee crisis of 2015–16, a ‘normative dissensus’ emerged between the EU member states located at the end of the Balkan route, Germany, Hungary, and Austria. This paper explores the roots of this normative dissensus by operationalizing post-functionalist propositions. It posits that national identity, and its domestic politicization during the late summer of 2015 generated the ‘constraining normative dissensus’ duri…
The economic lives of refugees
The economic lives of refugees are often viewed as relatively homogeneous, and sources of within-group variation remain largely unexplored. We describe the socio-economic diversity of refugees in one particular region: East Africa. Drawing upon first-hand quantitative and qualitative data collected in Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia (n = 8,996), the article systematically compares 12 refugee subpopulations living in seven refugee camps and the three …
Late Bronze Age agriculture and the early westward transmission of rice at Luanzagangzi, Northern Xinjiang, China
The Dzungar Basin of northern Xinjiang has previously been considered a marginal environment with little evidence for the development of prehistoric agriculture. Recent archaeobotanical studies have indicated the region as being a route for the transmission of domesticated plants, technologies and ideas between East and West Eurasia during prehistory, as early as 5000 BP. These interactions are still poorly understood and most evidence for early …
Refugee mobilities in East Africa: Understanding Secondary Movements
There is significant policy interest in refugee migration, particularly in relation to ‘secondary movements’ – the movement of refugees from the first country in which they arrive. Yet, there is very little theoretical or empirical research on refugee mobilities in the Global South, where the overwhelming majority of refugees reside. Existing literature on refugee migration focuses mainly on people who have already selected onward migration to th…
William Lancaster: anthropologist and ethnographic mentor: In memory of William Lancaster (1938–2022) — CBRL
William at the Wadi Jilat field camp in 1988. Copyright: Andrew Garrard.William Lancaster, in many senses, rewrote the book on interdisciplinary research in the archaeology of nomadic peoples in th...
Social Cohesion and Refugee-Host Interactions: Evidence from East Africa
Building upon the literature on contact theory, this paper explores the role of inter-group interaction in shaping social cohesion between refugees and host communities in East Africa. It draws upon first-hand quantitative (n=16,608) and qualitative data collected from refugees and nearby host communities in urban and camp-like contexts in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. Focusing on the Uganda data, OLS regressions reveal a positive and significant …
Re-examining climate-driven Malthusian collapse in Kashmir: New palaeoenvironmental context for the archaeological record
Cereal size, AMS and charcoal data from phase 1 of the Kashmir Prehistory Project
Run Elvin! By Gabriel Ndayishimiye
The film Encanto (Walt Disney Pictures, 2021), directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, symbolically addresses the aftermath of forced displacement and structural violence. Through the story of the Madrigal family and the enigmatic figure of Bruno, it represents the silence and invisibility that accompany those who have had to flee due to persecution or violence. The film shows how silence can become a mechanism of social discipline that hides pe…
Refugees welcome? Inter-group interaction and host community attitude formation
Building upon the literature on attitudes to immigration, which mainly focuses on Europe and North America, this article explores the role of inter-group interaction in influencing host community attitudes towards refugees in East Africa. It draws upon first-hand quantitative (n = 16,608) and qualitative data collected from refugees and nearby host communities in urban and camp-like contexts in Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Focusing on the Uganda …
The Gazelle’s Dream: Game Drives of the Old and New Worlds
The Rhetoric and Reality of Localisation: Refugee-Led Organisations in Humanitarian Governance
When refugees flee war and persecution, protection and assistance are usually provided by United Nations organisations and their NGO implementing partners. In parallel is a largely neglected story: refugees themselves frequently mobilise to provide protection and assistance to other refugees. At a global level, there has been a shift in international policy rhetoric towards ‘localisation’ and inclusion of refugees, which potentially provides an o…
Environmental change and the timing of the settlement of the Bronze Age Andronovo culture, in far northwest Xinjiang, China
The relationships between societal and environmental changes have long attracted strong interest amongst scientists. Each of these systems has their own internal dynamics such as the adaptability and social systems built by people; and the feedbacks and controls on environmental systems. North west Xinjiang presents a challenging topographic and climate setting for people. Yet existing evidence shows Bronze Age populations settled into the Bortal…
Transnational blindness: International institutions and refugees’ cross-border activities
The Dollo Ado refugee camps, located close to the Ethiopian-Somali border, have been a major focus for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)'s attempts to build livelihoods for refugees and the host community. The context presents an analytical puzzle: despite the importance of cross-border activity to refugees’ socioeconomic lives, such transnational activity has been institutionally invisible to and hindered by the international agencies se…
Refugees And Patronage: A Political History Of Uganda’s ‘Progressive’ Refugee Policies
Uganda’s self-reliance policy for refugees has been recognized as among the most progressive refugee policies in the world. In contrast to many refugee-hosting countries, it allows refugees the right to work and freedom of movement. It has been widely praised as a model for other countries to emulate. However, there has been little research on the politics that underlie Uganda’s approach. Why has Uganda maintained these policies despite hosting m…
The Global Governed: Refugees as Providers of Protection and Assistance
When refugees flee war and persecution, protection and assistance are usually provided by United Nations organisations and their NGO implementing partners. In camps and cities, the dominant humanitarian model remains premised upon a provider-beneficiary relationship. In parallel to this model, however, is a largely neglected story: refugees themselves frequently mobilise to create organisations or networks as alternative providers of social prote…
Power and proliferation: Explaining the fragmentation of global migration governance
Fragmentation is widely recognised as one of the defining characteristics of global migration governance. However, there has been little academic analysis of fragmentation, either as a dependent or independent variable in the international politics of migration. We aim to explain why it is that global migration governance has historically emerged as a patchwork of international institutions. In order to do so, we outline an original theoretical f…
What Difference do Mayors Make? The Role of Municipal Authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s Response to Syrian Refugees
With the majority of refugees now in urban areas, mayors and municipal authorities have been recognized as increasingly important policy actors in the global refugee regime. This trend is acknowledged in the policy literature. However, there has been little systematic academic research exploring the conditions under which mayors make a difference to refugee-policy outcomes. Theoretically, we outline a heuristic framework aimed at disaggregating k…
Localising Public Health: Refugee-led organisations as first and last responders in Covid-19
New evidence for the transcontinental spread of early faience
A zooarchaeological study on the new evidence of sacrificial horses from Iron Age burial 15 in the Kalasu cemetery, Xinjiang, China
The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads
The Desert "Kites" of the Badiyat Esh-Sham and North Arabia
Archaeological investigations into the steppic regions of the Near East have only recently been systematized in controlled surveys and excavations. Prior to this information regarding pastoral nomads and 'archaeological' remains came from travellers' accounts. One corpus of such data concerned extensive stone structures in the basaltic sub-region of the Badiyat esh-Sham, 'desert kites', which have received much speculative attention. Their functi…
The Refugee Regime Complex
Journal Article The Refugee Regime Complex Get access Alexander Betts Alexander Betts * * Dr Alexander Betts is Hedley Bull Research Fellow in International Relations at the University of Oxford, where he is also Director of the MacArthur Foundation-funded Global Migration Governance Project. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Refugee Survey Quarterly, Volume 29, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 12–37, https://doi.org/10…
Survival Migration: A New Protection Framework
The modern refugee regime, created in the aftermath of World War II, provides protection mainly to people who flee individualized persecution or generalized violence. Subsequent to its creation, a range of new drivers of external displacement—particularly related to the interaction of environmental change, livelihood collapse, and state fragility—have emerged that fall outside the framework of the regime. In order to examine institutional respons…
Institutional Proliferation and the Global Refugee Regime
This article explores the impact of institutional proliferation on the politics of refugee protection. The refugee regime mainly comprises the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Recently, however, new parallel and overlapping institutions have emerged in relation to two previously unregulated areas: internally displaced persons (IDPs) and international migration. …
Public Goods Theory and the Provision of Refugee Protection: The Role of the Joint-Product Model in Burden-Sharing Theory
Much of the existing forced migration literature on burden-sharing implicitly or explicitly assumes humanitarian provision to refugees, whether in the form of asylum or contributions to international refugee agencies, to be an international public good. This assumption has profound implications because it is interpreted to imply that refugee provision is inevitably characterized by collective action failure in the absence of a highly integrated f…
Qermez Dere and the Early Aceramic Neolithic of N. Iraq
Qermez Dere est un établissement néolithique ancien de la Djezireh iraqienne. Avec Nemrik, décrit ailleurs dans ce volume, Qermez Dere forme la hase d'une séquence culturelle s'étendant de la fin de l'épi-paléolithique jusqu'au milieu du 7e millénaire avant J.-C. La culture de ce nouveau site peut être mise en relation à la fois avec celle de Zagros septentrional et celle du Nord-Levant, avec laquelle les liens semblent plus étroits. Uimportance …
What Difference do Mayors Make? The Role of Municipal Authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s Response to Syrian Refugees
With the majority of refugees now in urban areas, mayors and municipal authorities have been recognized as increasingly important policy actors in the global refugee regime. This trend is acknowledged in the policy literature. However, there has been little systematic academic research exploring the conditions under which mayors make a difference to refugee-policy outcomes. Theoretically, we outline a heuristic framework aimed at disaggregating k…
Refugee Economies: Forced Displacement and Development
Refugees have rarely been studied by economists. Despite some pioneering research on the economic lives of refugees, there remains a lack of theory and empirical data through which to understand, and build upon, refugees' own engagement with markets. Yet understanding these economic systems may hold the key to rethinking our entire approach to refugee assistance. If we can improve our knowledge of the resource allocation systems that shape refuge…
Desert kites in Jordan – a new appraisal
The desert kites of Jordan, usually stone‐built enclosures with long trailing walls, are part of a broader phenomenon found throughout specific parts of the Middle East, with similar types of structures known widely across the world. Most commonly, the enclosures are used for trapping large herds of ungulates. Those found in Jordan are more densely packed and of much greater variety than those elsewhere in the Middle East. This paper offers a rev…
Rock Art in Eastern Jordan: Kite' Carvings
Recent surveys in the basalt region of eastern Jordan have located several rock carvings of a form which suggests that they might represent the "kites" (animal traps) common in the area
The Kalobeyei Settlement: A Self-reliance Model for Refugees
In 2016, the Kalobeyei refugee settlement was created, just 3.5 kilometres from the Kakuma camps in Kenya. In a departure from Kenya’s policy of not allowing refugees to work, its aim was to provide self-reliance to refugees and greater refugee–host interaction. But are refugee policies and programmes in Kalobeyei really different from those in Kakuma? If so, what are the differences? And do these differences actually translate into different sel…
The Akchakhan-kala Wall Paintings: New Perspectives on Kingship and Religion in Ancient Chorasmia
International audience
Localising Public Health: Refugee-led organisations as first and last responders in Covid-19
New evidence for the transcontinental spread of early faience
Self-reliance and Social Networks: Explaining Refugees’ Reluctance to Relocate from Kakuma to Kalobeyei
In 2016, refugees in the Kakuma camps in Kenya were offered the opportunity to relocate to the new Kalobeyei settlement, which ostensibly offered a better set of opportunities. While it was portrayed by the international community as objectively better for refugees’ autonomy and socio-economic prospects, most refugees in Kakuma viewed the opportunity differently. Less than 16 per cent of refugees who heard about Kalobeyei were willing to be reset…
The Normative Terrain of the Global Refugee Regime
The global refugee regime encompasses the rules, norms, principles, and decision-making procedures that govern states' responses to refugees. It comprises a set of norms, primarily those entrenched in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, which defines who is a refugee and the rights to which such people are entitled. It also comprises an international organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees…
A new hypothesis for early Bronze Age cultural diversity in Xinjiang, China
Regime Complexity and International Organizations: UNHCR as a Challenged Institution
The existing literature on regime complexity has generally focused on its impact on the behavior of states; in contrast, this article explores its implications for international organizations. Many organizations within the UN system were established in the aftermath of World War II, at a time when they held a de facto monopoly in a given policy field. Gradually, however, institutional proliferation has created a range of institutional overlaps th…
Adunqiaolu: New evidence for the Andronovo in Xinjiang, China
A response to Zeder, Bar-Oz, Rufolo and Hole (2013)
Karakalpak-Australian Excavations in Ancient Chorasmia, 2001–2005: Interim Report on the Fortifications of Kazakl'i-Yatkan and Regional Survey
This article presents the interim results of the Karakalpak-Australian excavations for the years 2001–2005 at the site of Kazakl'i-yatkan in north-western Uzbekistan. Data is presented on the construction and absolute chronology of the fortifications and an architectural survey of contemporary standing monuments in the region. Kazakl'i- yatkan was a major site in the delta of the Amu-dar'ya and was possibly at one time a regional capital. A serie…
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection into the 21st Century
This is a concise and comprehensive introduction to both the world of refugees and the UN organization that protects and assists them. Written by experts in the field, this is one of the very few books that trace the relationship between state interests, global politics, and the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR). Looking ahead into the twenty-first century, the authors outline how the changing nature of conflict a…
Should Approaches to Post-conflict Justice and Reconciliation be Determined Globally, Nationally or Locally
Functional Analysis of Chipped Stone Artefacts from the Late Neolithic Site of Gabal Na'ja, Eastern Jordan
Sites of "Burin Neolithic" type in the Bādiyat al-Šām have high proportions of burins in the flint assemblages. Microwear studies have been done to find out how the burins may have been used. The results of these studies suggest that most of the burins were used, not as tools, but as cores for the production of spalls
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Period in Eastern Jordan
Much new information has come to light recently regarding the Neolithic periods in Jordan. It also becomes clear that, as in Palestine, the Negev and Sinai, there are major differences in the economic strategies adopted respectively by population in the steppe and those in the moist Mediterranean woodland zone. This paper concerns the evidence for Neolithic groups beyond the Mediterranean zones sites in the dry steppe and the dry/moist steppic ma…
Prehistoric Sites at Qa'a Mejalla, Eastern Jordan
A Natufian site in the Black Desert, Eastern Jordan
Une prospection effectuée dans la zone basaltique de la Jordanie orientale a permis de localiser plusieurs gisements épipaléolithiques. Cette note préliminaire est consacrée à l'un d'entre eux, une station de chasseurs, d'époque natouftenne
Black Desert Survey, Jordan: First Preliminary Report
Black Desert Survey, Jordan: First Preliminary Report
Black Desert Survey, Jordan: Second Preliminary Report
The Black Desert Survey is being undertaken to examine prehistoric activity in the basalt region of eastern Jordan. The second field season, the preliminary results of which are presented here, lasted six weeks during August/September 1982.
Black Desert Survey, Jordan: Third Preliminary Report
The Black Desert Survey is being undertaken to examine prehistoric activity in the basalt region of eastern Jordan. The second field season, the preliminary results of which are presented here, lasted six weeks during August/September 1982.
Prehistoric Environment and Settlement in the Azraq Basin: An Interim Report on the 1984 Excavation Season
The Azraq Project was begun in 1975 in order to learn more of the history of environment, settlement and subsistence in the presently arid zone of South-West Asia during the late Glacial and early Holocene—the period crucial to the beginnings of food production. In 1975 a survey was made of fifteen localitites around the Azraq Basin and the area was found to be rich in sites of late Acheulian to Neolithic date. Evidence was also found for a large…
Rock Art in Eastern Jordan: Kite' Carvings
Recent surveys in the basalt region of eastern Jordan have located several rock carvings of a form which suggests that they might represent the "kites" (animal traps) common in the area
Prehistoric Environment and Settlement in the Azraq Basin: An Interim Report on the 1985 Excavation Season
The Azraq Project was begun in 1975 in order to learn more of the history of environment, settlement and subsistence in the presently arid zone of South-West Asia during the late Glacial and early Holocene—the period crucial to the beginnings of food production. In 1975 a survey was made of fifteen localitites around the Azraq Basin and the area was found to be rich in sites of late Acheulian to Neolithic date. Evidence was also found for a large…
A Preliminary Survey of Late Neolithic Settlements at el-Ghirqa, Eastern Jordan
Survey in the inhospitable steppe lands of eastern Jordan has revealed late neolithic settlements, part of a settlement pattern probably of the sixth millennium BC. Faunal and artefactual evidence is sparse, but the sites are characterized by lithic assemblages dominated by burins. Analysis of the structures and their relationship to artefactual deposits offer opportunities for further research
The Desert "Kites" of the Badiyat Esh-Sham and North Arabia
Archaeological investigations into the steppic regions of the Near East have only recently been systematized in controlled surveys and excavations. Prior to this information regarding pastoral nomads and 'archaeological' remains came from travellers' accounts. One corpus of such data concerned extensive stone structures in the basaltic sub-region of the Badiyat esh-Sham, 'desert kites', which have received much speculative attention. Their functi…
Jebel Es-Subhi: A Natufian Site in Eastern Jordan
Considering its location and its lithic assemblage, Jebel es-Subhi, a small natufian site in the Black Desert (Jordan), seems to be a short term campsite and a knapping station
The hunter's perspective: 7Th millennium BC rock carvings from eastern Jordan
Rock art is common in the Arabian peninsula and the southern Syrian desert but where related inscriptions are absent, most carvings are difficult to date. Recent excavations at Dhuweila, a Neolithic site in eastern Jordan, have uncovered carved stones incorporated into structures in securely dated levels. The distinctive style of the carvings makes it possible to link them on stylistic grounds with many other rock carvings in the vicinity of the …
Excavations at Dhuweila, Eastern Jordan: A Preliminary Report
(1988). 1986 Excavations at Dhuweila, Eastern Jordan: a Preliminary Report. Levant: Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 7-21.
The Solubba: Nonpastoral Nomads in Arabia
This paper deals with the Solubba, a people who until recently were found in small groups over much of Arabia. They are essentially nonpastoralists living in a form of symbiosis with the bedouin tribes. They derived part of their livelihood from hunting, and with the virtual extinction of all the major game animals in northern Arabia they have now moved to small, semipermanent settlements on the borders of the steppe (Dostal 1956). They are of pa…
Qermez Dere and the Early Aceramic Neolithic of N. Iraq
Qermez Dere est un établissement néolithique ancien de la Djezireh iraqienne. Avec Nemrik, décrit ailleurs dans ce volume, Qermez Dere forme la hase d'une séquence culturelle s'étendant de la fin de l'épi-paléolithique jusqu'au milieu du 7e millénaire avant J.-C. La culture de ce nouveau site peut être mise en relation à la fois avec celle de Zagros septentrional et celle du Nord-Levant, avec laquelle les liens semblent plus étroits. Uimportance …
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Period in Eastern Jordan
Much new information has come to light recently regarding the Neolithic periods in Jordan. It also becomes clear that, as in Palestine, the Negev and Sinai, there are major differences in the economic strategies adopted respectively by population in the steppe and those in the moist Mediterranean woodland zone. This paper concerns the evidence for Neolithic groups beyond the Mediterranean zones sites in the dry steppe and the dry/moist steppic ma…
The Burqu'/Ruweishid Project: Preliminary Report on the 1988 Field Season
Functional Analysis of Chipped Stone Artefacts from the Late Neolithic Site of Gabal Na'ja, Eastern Jordan
Sites of "Burin Neolithic" type in the Bādiyat al-Šām have high proportions of burins in the flint assemblages. Microwear studies have been done to find out how the burins may have been used. The results of these studies suggest that most of the burins were used, not as tools, but as cores for the production of spalls
The Burqu c /Ruweishid Project: Preliminary Report on the 1989 Field Season
The Burqu c /Ruweishid Project: Preliminary Report on the 1989 Field Season
The second preliminary report on work in the Burquc/Ruweishid region of eastern Jordan presents an account of results achieved in the 1989 field season. Excavations were carried out at seven sites. These include several late prehistoric camps near Qasr Burquc and a late Chalcolithic/EB IA rock shelter to the south. Two specialist reports present data on the survey of Qasr Burquc and the ‘lake’ (Helms), and the modern population (Lancaster and Lan…
Tell el-Ḥibr: A Rock Shelter Occupation of the Fourth Millennium B. C. E. in the Jordanian Bâdiya
Excavations at a rock shelter in eastern Jordan have provided new evidence for exploitation of the dry steppe about the middle of the fourth millennium B. C. E. The findings of the el-Ḥibr excavations, together with a growing corpus of evidence from elsewhere regarding the presence of human populations in the semiarid zones of the Near and Middle East, provide material for a discussion of the nature of relations between "desert and sown" in that …
The Burqu c /Ruwayšid Project: Preliminary Report on the 1991 Field Season (1)
The third and final preliminary report on work in the Burquc/Ruwayšid region of eastern Jordan presents an account of results achieved in the 1991 field season. This season was spent making a detailed investigation of areas east and south of Qasr Burquc. Excavations were carried out at two sites with complex water harvesting systems, and at a prehistoric camp in the wadi Ruwayšid.
The Neolithic sequence in the East Jordan Badia. A preliminary overview
Excavations at a series of sites in eastern Jordan have provided data on changes and developments through the 7th and 6th millennia ВС. The paper provides a short summary of each site, with a general discussion of the patterns which are with regard to the Neolithic periods in the semi-arid zones of the Near East
Early Cotton in North Arabia
Geography (71 works) · Archaeology (58 works) · Political science (52 works) · History (39 works) · Refugee (37 works) · Ancient history (34 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (34 works) · Sociology (30 works) · Law (29 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (29 works)