Hurting the Host: The Dynamics of Refugee-Related Violence in South Asia

This paper assesses the proclivity towards refugee-related violence in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, using an original dataset. I show that the host’s attitude towards refugees depend on local factors such as how long refugees are expected to stay, the rate of inflow, its control of camps, as well as on international factors such as alliances with the sending country and the presence of international organizations. If the host is aggressive, refugees will retaliate, depending on whether the camps are militarized whereby refugees will have access to weapons and arms. Camp militarization, in turn, depends on factors such as rebel infiltration and the location of camps. Furthermore, the paper finds that alliances between host and sending countries have a pacifying effect. On the hand, while international organizations are able to shape host behavior to a certain extent, they are unable to prevent camp militarization. Such findings have policy implications for hosts, sending states and international organizations.