ABSTRACT
Fourth, the definition misses out on the emerging dominance of legal rationalism in defining who is in need. This overt and dominating form of legalism, where legal rationality comes to be pursued for its own sake, grew up with the modern bureaucratic state and became one of its lines of defence. The legalese of the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol turns flesh-and-blood people, individuals in need, into abstracted persons bound by a single moment is history. The Convention was written in response to a moment that forced the generosity of all – World War II – but it left out the generalizing insecurity that was dealt to an increasing number of populations outside the immediate theatre of war.
