What If Refugees Mattered?: The Challenge to International Law

Catherine Dauvergne

What If Refugees Mattered? The Challenge to International Law

Catherine Dauvergne

Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia

Research output: Presentation

Abstract

The starting point of this work is that the figure of the refugee is under-theorized in international law, to the point of being almost entirely absent from dominant accounts of international law. This absence is all the more striking because international law is, if anything, over-theorized. Or, in Martti Koskenniemi’s (vastly more polite) words, “more than other fields, international law’s centre of gravity has been with theoretical abstraction and doctrinal construction.” So why is the figure of the refugee absent? And why does it matter? These are the key questions I am exploring in this work.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - Jun 18 2026

Access to Document

What If Refugees Mattered The Challenge to International Law

http://commons.allard.ubc.ca/fac_pubs/2839

Cite this

@conference{8bf81bbc75c84e3ba6d97c4e193bbc3d,

title = "What If Refugees Mattered?: The Challenge to International Law",

abstract = "The starting point of this work is that the figure of the refugee is under-theorized in international law, to the point of being almost entirely absent from dominant accounts of international law. This absence is all the more striking because international law is, if anything, over-theorized. Or, in Martti Koskenniemi{\textquoteright}s (vastly more polite) words, “more than other fields, international law{\textquoteright}s centre of gravity has been with theoretical abstraction and doctrinal construction.” So why is the figure of the refugee absent? And why does it matter? These are the key questions I am exploring in this work.",

author = "Catherine Dauvergne",

year = "2026",

month = jun,

day = "18",

language = "English",

}

TY - CONF

T1 - What If Refugees Mattered?

T2 - The Challenge to International Law

AU - Dauvergne, Catherine

PY - 2026/6/18

Y1 - 2026/6/18

N2 - The starting point of this work is that the figure of the refugee is under-theorized in international law, to the point of being almost entirely absent from dominant accounts of international law. This absence is all the more striking because international law is, if anything, over-theorized. Or, in Martti Koskenniemi’s (vastly more polite) words, “more than other fields, international law’s centre of gravity has been with theoretical abstraction and doctrinal construction.” So why is the figure of the refugee absent? And why does it matter? These are the key questions I am exploring in this work.

AB - The starting point of this work is that the figure of the refugee is under-theorized in international law, to the point of being almost entirely absent from dominant accounts of international law. This absence is all the more striking because international law is, if anything, over-theorized. Or, in Martti Koskenniemi’s (vastly more polite) words, “more than other fields, international law’s centre of gravity has been with theoretical abstraction and doctrinal construction.” So why is the figure of the refugee absent? And why does it matter? These are the key questions I am exploring in this work.

M3 - Presentation

ER -