ABSTRACT

The question o f state permeability in the contemporary Middle East has been approached predominantly from the ideational perspective, typically emphasizing the roles o f pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism in undermining the dual processes of nation formation and modem state consolidation. A less explored component of regional permeability, however, is that represented by the cross-border movements of people in the form o f refugee flows. At times of political turbulence, the latter often constitute a fundamental challenge to state authorities whose limited capacities to monitor, regulate and respond to the influx o f asylum seekers constrain their range o f policy choices. Indeed, the case o f Iran, host to roughly two million refugees, highlights both the importance of examining the dynamics behind refugee policy formulation as well as the dilemmas o f state border permeability more generally. The United States Commission on Refugees (USCR) estimates that during the 1990s, Iran ‘sheltered a staggering 4.5 million exiles from Afghanistan and Iraq, the largest refugee caseload any single country has handled in modem times."1 The state’s response to such massive influxes o f people has varied considerably over the last couple o f decades, ranging from ‘open’ strategies oriented towards the local integration o f asylum seekers, to ‘preventive’ ones involving the involuntary repatriation of refugees, the closure o f borders and the extension o f relief beyond its territories.