Photo of James Milner

James Milner

Refugees and forced migration; Global refugee policy; United Nations and global governance; Humanitarian action

Degrees:BA (Toronto) MPhil, DPhil (Oxford)
Phone:613-520-2600 x 2211
Email:james.milner@carleton.ca
Office:A629 Loeb Building
CV:View

Professor

James Milner is a Professor of Political Science at Carleton University. He is currently Project Director of LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network, a 7-year, SSHRC-funded partnership between researchers and civil society actors primarily in Canada, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon and Tanzania. He is also Director of the Migration and Diaspora Studies program at Carleton University, Co-Chair of the Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network, and Canada’s first De Mello Chair. He has been a researcher, practitioner and policy advisor on issues relating to the global refugee regime, global refugee policy, meaningful refugee participation and the politics of asylum in the global South. He has undertaken field research in Burundi, Guinea, Kenya, India, Tanzania and Thailand, and has presented research findings to stakeholders in New York, Geneva, London, Ottawa, Bangkok, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and elsewhere. He has worked as a Consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in India, Cameroon, Guinea and its Geneva Headquarters. He is author of Refugees, the State and the Politics of Asylum in Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), co-author (with Alexander Betts and Gil Loescher) of UNHCR: The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection (Routledge, 2012), and co-editor of Refugees’ Roles in Resolving Displacement and Building Peace: Beyond Beneficiaries(Georgetown University Press, 2019) and Protracted Refugee Situations: Political, Human Rights and Security Implications (UN University Press, 2008).

Selected Publications

“Meaningful Refugee Participation: An Emerging Norm in the Global Refugee Regime”, Refugee Survey Quarterly, May 2022, co-authored with Mustafa Alio and Rez Gardi.

Beyond the partnership debate: localizing knowledge production in refugee and forced migration studies”, Journal of Refugee Studies, July 2021, co-authored with Richa Shivakoti.

Canada and the UN Global Compact on Refugees: A Case Study of Influence in the Global Refugee Regime” in Yiagadeesen Samy and Howard Duncan (eds.), International Affairs and Canadian Migration Policy, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.

Refugees’ Roles in Resolving Displacement and Building Peace: Beyond Beneficiaries, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2019, co-edited with Megan Bradley and Blair Peruniak.

Governance of the Global Refugee Regime”, World Refugee Council Research Paper No. 11, May 2019, with Alexander Betts.

Power in the Global Refugee Regime: Understanding Expressions and Experiences of Power in Global and Local Contexts”, Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, Vol. 33, no. 1, March 2017, with Krystyna Wojnarowicz.

Understanding global refugee policy”, Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 27, no. 4, December 2014.