Five history lessons in how to deal with a refugee crisis (2015)

Alexander Betts The Guardian. What can we learn from the way we dealt with previous refugee emergencies? After all, this is not the first time. Online article here.

Camps of Containment: A Genealogy of the Refugee Camp (2016)

Kirsten McConnachie Humanity : an international journal of human rights, humanitarianism and development OpenAccess version here. What is a refugee camp? Existing definitions have focused on logics of power and institutions of governance. This article argues instead that refugee camps are best understood in relation to their purpose of containment. It posits ‘camps of containment’

A New Paradigm of Customary International Criminal Law: The UN War Crimes Commission of 1943–1948 and its Associated Courts and Tribunals (2014)

Dan Plesch & Shanti Sattler Criminal Law Forum, 25 (1-2). pp. 17-43. OpenAccess version here. This article focuses on the United Nations War Crimes Commission’s significant contribution to the development of customary international criminal law defined by the development of international legal standards and proceedings to combat impunity and promote justice. It draws on the

1945’s Forgotten Insight: Multilateralism as Realist Necessity (2015)

Dan Plesch & Thomas G. Weiss International Studies Perspectives, 17 (1). pp. 4-16 OpenAccess version here. The 70th anniversary of the signing and entry into force of the UN Charter provided an occasion to explore the historical underpinnings of contemporary global governance. This essay redresses the neglect of the United Nations as a multilateral structure before

The United Nations: Managing and Re-shaping a New World Order (2020)

Amitav Acharaya & Dan Plesch Global Governance, 26 (2). pp. 221-235 OpenAccess version here. …One should not wait for these challenges to imperil the world to the point of no return before reviving it and strengthening it in the face of the current attack from populists and “patriots” (to use Trump’s words). At the same

‘Cape Town Knows, but She Forgets’: Segregation and the Making of a Housing Crisis during the First Half of the 20th Century (2018)

Wayne Dooling Journal of Southern African Studies, 44 (6). pp. 1057-1076. OpenAccess version here. The city of Cape Town experienced a severe housing crisis during the first half of the 20th century, the immediate origins of which were to be found in demographic growth fuelled by natural increase as well as inward migration. The deeper

Housing, planning and urban health: Historical and current perspectives from South Africa (2020)

Job Gbadegesin, Michael Pienaar, Lochner Marais Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series | Volume 48: Issue 48 OpenAccess article here. Globally, policymakers often describe informal settlements and slums in terms of health problems. In this paper we trace the way housing and planning have been linked to health concerns in the history of South Africa and we assess

A Century of South African Housing Acts 1920–2020 (2020)

Alan Mabin Urban Forum volume 31, pages453–472 OpenAccess Article available here. A century ago, South Africa’s first national scheme for financing public housing passed into law. The Housing Act, number 35 of 1920, created a fund administered by a Central Housing Board, from which municipalities could borrow to support construction of houses at a lower interest rate than

Campaigning for change: lessons from history (2015)

OpenAccess can be downloaded on this page. Historians and campaigners explore the history of campaigning – and what lessons may be drawn for fighting modern-day causes. Whatever your political viewpoint you probably think that there is much in the world that needs changing. Campaigning for change is a necessary activity – although one which is

History Matters? History‘s Role in Health Policy Making (2008)

Virginia Berridge Med Hist. 2008 Jul; 52(3): 311–326. Online OpenAccess article here.