Refugees

Refugee migration continues to rise as hostilities and aggressiveness worsen in various parts of the world. In recent years, the Syrian crisis has resulted in the eviction of millions of refugees from their home countries. As the number of migrants increases, states that accept a large number of refugees see the proliferation of extreme rights groups that advocate for stricter immigration policies. Such organizations seek to minimize the number of refugees entering their nations as well as the amount of assistance they receive from their respective governments. This research looks into the dynamics surrounding the emergence of these extreme rights groups in several countries that have previously received huge numbers of refugees and immigrants. The current study has compared the political influences in the rise of such groups to the politics in Harry Porter's wizarding world. Comparatively, Harry Potter's world was characterized with biases based on racial and ethnic discrimination. Together, the segregated and highly prejudiced leadership perceptions about the muggle and the pureblood wizards born in the wizarding world influenced every political decision made in Harry Potter's world. In the same manner, these politicized prejudices continue to influence the decisions against refugees and immigrants in the major host countries. By manipulating the laws and politicizing the refugees' rights, many of these extreme rights groups have continued to thrive in the developed countries, such as USA, UK, Australia, etc. Also, the increasing number of terrorists and criminal organizations associated with the refugees continue to be the scapegoat used by these extreme groups to advocate their position, manipulate the laws, and propagate their hideous agenda.



Abstract
The volumes of refugees on transit into different regions of the world have been rising steadily in the past decades. Based on the Nordic Models of migration, the flow of refugees is from the less developed and less secure regions to the developed and more secure regions respectively. Consequently, as the number of refugees migration continue to increase, the countries which accepted large amounts of refugees have experienced significant increase in the number of extreme rights groups that supports stricter immigration policies and seek to reduce the number of refugees flowing into their countries as well as the funding they receive from their respective governments. The objective of this research is to compare politics in the modern-day and its effects on refugees' creation and the rise in extreme rights groups to the politics in Harry Porter's wizarding society. Consequently, the study highlights how politics has played a significant role in contributing to the rise in these extreme rights groups. Based on the analyses, the study concludes that both the refugees' problems and the rise in extreme rights groups are politically instigated in the same manner as in Harry Porter's wizarding society. Strengthening the policies governing the movement, settlement and security of the refugees at the policy level is, therefore, essential to mitigating the rise in extreme rights groups and enhance the refugees' conditions in their destinations.





Introduction
The refugees' migration is a global menace which many countries and the United Nations continue to grapple with. If well managed, both the receiving and sending countries stand to benefit from the refugees. However, this is not the case in several regions. Normally, the host countries continue to suffer the burden and risks imposed on them by the refugees. Erosion of the hosts' traditions, environmental degradation, and security issues, imposed by the large volumes of refugees, pose serious challenges to continued admittance. Today, nearly every country with relative peace and stable economies hosts refugees and asylum seekers. Since 1975, the United States has provided a home to more than 3 million refugees and asylum seekers from all regions of the world. This number in the US is more than the number of all refugees in the world combined.
Since the beginning of the Syrian wars, more than one million Syrian refugees have fled into Europe by sea, and the number continues to swell over time. When the Russian-backed Syrian government intensified the bombing of Aleppo, more than 60, 000 Syrian refugees from Aleppo fled to the Turkish border only to be barred from entering the country. This comes at a time when many African refugees smuggle themselves to several European countries in search of good fortunes. Consequently, the majority of the countries, which took in more refugees previously, are currently closing their borders to bar refugees from entering their countries. For instance, more than 20,000 refugees from Syria are still stranded on the Jordanian border. Jordan closed its doors to refugees two years ago and is currently not receiving or supporting more refugees coming into the country.
A similar scenario is witnessed in Lebanon which on January 2015 passed a border restriction for refugees streaming into the country. To do this, Lebanon initiated an onerous registration program for the refugees that many of the refugees cannot meet. Although these barricades contravene the UN regulations on refugees handling, especially those from war-torn areas such as Syria, they continue to be implemented as a means to radically bar refugees from entering the respective countries. These situations critically reflect the politics in Harry Porter's wizarding world where the wizards are segregated into different groups (muggleborns, half-bloods and the pureblood wizards). The muggleborns face discrimination, threat and aggression from the pureblood wizards in the same way that the Lebanese and Jordanians perceive the Syrian refugees as unfit to enter their countries; leave along living amidst them. This paper uses the muggleborns and the pureblood wizards (the two extreme sides in Harry Porter's wizarding society) to illustrate the political differences that exists in the current society.
In 2016, the government of Kenya embarked on an ambitious plan to repatriate thousands of Somalian refugees settled in the region's largest refugee camp, the Daadab Refugees Camp. The decision came in the wake of serious security challenges that the camp has imposed on Kenya lately. As Lind, Mutahi and Jordan mention, the government of Kenya suspected the Al Shabaab militants found an excellent pass through the camp into the country from where they caused serious security harm. Kenya is the largest host of refugees from Somalia, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. A similar scenario is happening in the neighboring countries such as Uganda and Tanzania who equally host the majority of the refugees from different countries in the region. Citing neglect by the international community, especially the UNHCR and the developed countries, lack of support and overstretched budgets for supporting the refugees, the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia resolved to repatriate most of their refugees back to their countries and shield more from trickling in.
In addition, the US government, under Trump's administration has attempted on various grounds to bar more refugees from making their ways into the country. In 2017, the Trump administration declined to take refugees from Australia and drafted a law to bar refugees from Arab-majority countries from entering the USA. These decisions came at a time when several international humanitarian bodies raised serious humanitarian outcry about Australia's neglect of its refugees and failure to provide the necessary support and funding to the refugees residing within the country. Refugees' restrictions and non-funding are also experienced in Greece, where more than 60,000 refugees live in deplorable conditions. Notably, as the refugee problem continue to escalate, the countries accepting the largest amounts of refugees begin to experience increases in the extreme rights groups supporting stricter immigration policies, and seeking to effectively reduce the amounts of incoming refugees, and the basic supports the refugees receive from their respective governments. This determines how politics plays out in this whole scenario and compares the political instances experienced today with the politics in Harry Porter's wizarding world. The analysis is accorded a multidimensional approach with an aim to highlight the exact issues leading to such conditions. The issue is addressed from a political, economic, social, and security perspective.
Refugees' problems: Created or incidental
The refugees' patterns of migration can be understood from the perspectives of the Nordic Models. The Nordic models focus on three key pillars to explain the patterns and reasons for migration: the macroeconomic governance systems and the welfare (including safety) of the migrants and the organized working life systems. Consequently, the migration patterns tend to flow to the regions in which these features are favorable. Figure 1 is an illustration of the Nordic Model of migration as understood from these perspectives. According to these models, a lot of migration originates from the less developed nations to the more developed nations, mainly in search for employment opportunities, better care, better paying jobs, etc. The majority of refugees' migrations from Africa into the west is primarily based on these reasons. The second feature of the model is welfare services. Human welfare is a broad aspect which entails both the physical and emotional wellbeing of an individual. This infers that the migrants tend to move out of areas where their welfare is not guaranteed to regions where conditions are more favorable.
Figure 1: The Nordic Model of migration

Adapted from Dølvik, Fløtten, Hippe and Jordfald (2014 p. 23).
The Nordic Model is very applicable in the present situation in which the migration patterns of the refugees revolves largely around the economic and security reasons. Politics, however, is central to the social and economic security of the states. Due to these reasons, politics cannot be dissociated from the model and the refugees' question in the modern-day global scenario.
Understanding the subject of refugees is a complex phenomenon. Everyone has a country where they belong and governments to whom they owe allegiance. In Harry Porter's wizarding world, the government is mandated with absolute powers and authority to look after their citizens. This involves making laws, supervision the implementation of the laws and punishing the law offenders. The essence of this whole process is to ensure that there is peaceful and harmonious existence between different persons in the country. In Harry Porter's wizarding world, governments assumed power through sheer power assumption, hereditary governance, governance due to wealth possession, wisdom, meritocracy, and governments chosen by the conscious will of the people (the democratic processes of choosing governments.
Hereditary and democratic governments are the most common types of governments in place today. However, in both scenarios, wealth possession and some level of wits play a key role in setting up a government. The former is mainly a reserve of the east (especially the Asian region) whereby, leadership is hereditary while the latter is dominant in the modern westernized societies whereby governments are selected through competitive democratic processes. Arguably, countries which embrace the hereditary leadership face serious problems with democracy and fair governance compared to the democratic governments. Notably, therefore, the majority of the refugees are from the countries with hereditary governments such as Asia and Africa, with constant wars and poor economies. On the other hand, the majority of the western countries with stable democratic governments continue to suffer the burden of refugees from these poorly governed or dictatorial societies in Africa and Asia.
The major issues with the refugees' migration currently are insecurity and economic unrest in the countries of origin. According to Gabiam, it is impossible to dissociate these compelling issues from the politics of the countries from which the refugees originate. Moreover, the increasingly poor handling of the refugees in destination countries is equally political instigated. Gabiam equates these problems to the human nature of self-seeking, self-gratification and self-interest also experienced in Harry Porter's wizarding world. The four and a half years of civil wars in Syria, for instance, have resulted in the ejection of more than 4.7 million Syrian refugees dispatched to various countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, etc. The warring sides, the Assad-led government regime, and opposition groups, ISIS, all work to champion their individual agenda.
Given that all humans look for self-interest, Barratt observes that it is important that a functional government structure is put in place at all times to ensure that law and order are maintained. In the absence of proper governance structures, the situation becomes brutish, nasty and short. However, even in scenarios where stable governance structures are in place, fair and just rule is the sole remedy to peace and stability and hence the only measure to abate the current problem of refugees. Unfortunately, the current society reflects the same politics of biasness, inequalities, injustice, and brutality exhibited in Harry Porter's wizarding world, hence the current issues with refugees.
Barratt discusses how political biases in Harry Porter's wizarding world encourage social injustice, murder and violence among the citizen. Equally, nearly all of the countries from where the refugees originate exhibit similar characteristics: poor governance, political instability and poverty. For instance, Straus consider weaknesses in political and governance systems of Rwanda as the main cause of the Rwanda Genocide in the Kivu region, one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in the global history. According to Straus, the conflict between the Hutu and the Tutsi, which led to the Rwanda Genocide, was contributed primarily by the political animosity. This was due to the leadership which failed to serve the interest of the people at the expense of their individual interests and that of their tribesmen. These facts support Hobbes claims that in the absence of a proper governance structure in place, the quest to serve self-interests and self-glorification, which is of the human nature, may spur brutality leading to violence. The Rwandan scenario clearly reflects Harry Porter's society where politics of superiority and self-focus led to the separation of the purebloods and the muggleborns in the wizarding world, drawing a distinct line setting each side in silent opposition to another. These scenarios develop gradually and become heightened by political incitement, and eventually result to open dislike and violence.
This brings us to the question of governance and authority and the responsibilities of the governments to ensure that the rights and interests of the people are served at all times. According to Barratt an ideal government is one to which the people trade their liberties willingly for the orders that they get from the government. The unideal government, therefore, is the one to which none or only a few of the citizens are willing to trade their liberties to. These positions reflect the thinking of Professor Quirrel who states that in the politics of power, there is no good or evil, only power and the people who are too weak to seek it. That means that those who seek power would spend every effort to make sure that they get what their want to achieve through every means. This again narrows back to self-interests seeking as the dominant nature of humanity. Professor Quirrel's position is clearly evident in Henry Kissinger who gained power by eliminating anyone who stood to challenge his authority. Through such practices, he exercised dominion over his critics and gained absolute power. Kissinger also spread terror to the people whom he thought would consider resisting in the future. This meant that Kissinger would intentionally create a humanitarian crisis in order to make his political power survive.
Similar scenarios as in the times of Henry Kissinger are common in the political power struggles evident in the present political arena and the constant struggle for power and dominion. As Hsu, Corrie, and Hansen observe, the recent influx of refugees into Europe from Africa and the Middle East has attributed a variety of factors. Key among them includes political instability, social unrests, the emerging geostrategic dynamics of the west into the larger Asian region, and violence due to power and resources struggles. What started in Syria as a mere pro-democracy movement against the tyrant rule of the Bashar Al-Assad government has turned into a global phenomenon, resulting into large-scale displacement of millions of Syrians.
As Allison observes, the Assad government adopted a very repressive governance system in which the people's discontent was repressed to avoid any opposition. The calls for reforms on democracy made by a few people in the country, before the onset of the ongoing onslaughts could have saved the country from plunging into the current state of disarray only if Assad's government listened. However, the choice to serve oneself as opposed to the interest of the rest of the citizens has been the major cause of contention and the refugee problems in the Syrian regions to date. In the case of Kissinger, the more powerful people he brought down, the more power he gained and the more he managed to repress the voices of those opposing his rule.
Assad's fight against the rebel opposition leaders in the country can be likened to Kissinger's' regular attempts to shut down any opposition from the bigwigs. In Harry Potter's world, the divisions between the pureblood wizards and the muggleborns were majorly based on the perception of the later groups as 'the other' (different from the majority groups (pureblood wizards). The division also resulted to other physical disparities such as economic seclusion, social disintegration and political differences. In the wizarding world, the non-magical humans such as the muggles are considered to be vicious, nonhumans, stupid dirty and not more than animals. Morfin, for instance, sees nothing wrong with abusing the muggles since he doesn't consider them as humans. In fact the purebloods spread the propaganda that the muggles pose serious threat to the wizards' society in order to achieve public dissatisfaction with them.
The creation of 'the other' in the current society could also be associated with the refugee problems currently experienced in different parts of the world. Like in Harry Porter's society, this aggression towards the minority groups (the muggleborns of the current society) often result in persecution by the majority groups. For instance, when the Assad's government constantly defied the calls for democracy and continued to repress the opposing voices, mainly from the Sunni Muslims, two different divides were created: the Shia and Sunni Muslims. The Assad's ruling tribe, the Shiite are considered to be superior (the pureblood) compared to 'the others' groups in the opposition (the muggleborns). This has led to a constant fight against the Assad's Shia Alawite minority sect, which is perceived as the favored groups.
A similar scenario led to the fight between the Hutu and Tutsi communities in Rwanda, which ultimately resulted in the displacement of millions of the Hutu tribe (the muggleborns) from Rwanda to become refugees in neighboring countries. The whole issue of 'the otherness' and refugees is traced to the scramble for resources and the desire to serve self or the interests of only a few people allied to the ruling folk. These scenarios are exhibited in the majority of the multiethnic societies currently. Similar segregations are exhibited in the US with the whites being considered to be superior (purebloods) followed by the Latin-Americans (half-bloods) and the African-Americans (the muggleborns) rated at the lowest cadre in the social classification. These classifications also determine the political, social and economic considerations of these societies. In this respect, the current society is similar to Harry Potter's world where the differences between the pureblood wizards and the muggleborn wizards continued to create political, economic and social tensions between the two groups.
According to the UNHCR, about 15 conflicts spurred by power struggle have occurred in Africa, Europe, Middle East and Asia during the past ten years. The latest are the Syrian and South Sudan incidences which have resulted in massive displacement of millions of people seeking refuge in the neighboring countries. Table 1 shows the number of refugees from some of the worst affected countries in Africa and Asia. The numbers in Syria have increased several folds over last two years and continue to rise.
Table 1: Top 10 nationalities of refugees in 2014

Source: UNHCR Global Trends (2015, p. 14)
Consequently, politics and human interest have a significant role in resulting to the increasing incidences of refugees in various parts of the world. It is, therefore, clear from these analyses that the problems associated with the creation of the refugees and their constant increase in numbers presently is not incidental, but rather manufactured in the political arena. Unfortunately, the people who create the problem of refugees remain unaffected. Instead, the host countries suffer the entire burden of the selfishness of other people from the refugees' countries.
The purebloods and muggleborns exists everywhere in the current societies and are in a constant tussle with the 'other' in constant tussles for survival. As Barratt mentions, in the politics of the wizards world, the possession of power was bestowed primarily on the amount of wealth that one possessed as opposed to the inherent respect to the histories and legacies. Money could buy power, superiority, and hence, leadership in the wizarding world. Comparing these scenarios with the current society, money is believed to be a show of power and might. The ability of an individual to gather more money and enrich themselves in Harry Potter's world was associated with the ability of the same individuals to lead. Notably, both in Harry Porter's world and the present political environments, it didn't matter how the individuals acquired the wealth, power, and money as long as they have them. The emergence of the capitalist societies, aided by the industrial movements of the present world, the preference of money as a key determinant of power and authority has played out significantly in engineering leadership. The current breed of leaders is drawn from the rich families who are believed to matter in the society. The rich leaders continue to squeeze and oppress the poor (the muggleborns) who are consequently displaced as refugees.
The overarching struggle for wealth to achieve the power and ascend to leadership positions has engulfed the current society. A lot of the issues resulting in mass ejection of people from different countries such as Syria, Rwanda, Cote d'Ivoire, etc. experienced in the past are a show of power and might among the leaders in their quest for dominion. Right from the Nazi regime to the US Empire, propaganda is used to stir up violence and destabilize the opposing side at the expense of the more powerful states. The emergence of capitalism and the quest for wealth is the primary cause of all political problems experienced in the current societies. It has led to the political division of the society into the two extremes of the 'haves' and 'have not.' The 'have not' are face all the suffering of villains associated with the muggles in Harry Porter's society such as diseases, political oppression, economic alienation, injustice, etc. Such conditions are the major cause of the mass outflow of poor people from Africa into Europe thus the refugee problem in the region. On most occasions, the struggles between the opposed and oppressors (the muggleborns and the purebloods) often result in social and political unrests, as well as the economic disparities thus resulting to violence. The common result of these effects is often mass ejection of populations from the violence-stricken areas.
The rationale concerning this aspect is whether or not the host countries should continue to bear the burden created and perpetrated by another country. This is the main question in dealing with the refugees' problems currently and consequently, the rise of opposition on refugees' admittance. The emergence of the dissenting voices in host countries, such as Jordan, Lebanon, Kenya and the US are simply questioning the facts behind the refugee crisis in the respective regions from where the refugees are drawn. The deliberate creation of the refugees' problem by certain individuals is the fueling factor behind the constant rise and rejection of the refugees by the dissenting voices in countries which accept the majority of refugees.
The refugees' question and the emergence of stricter groups in host countries
We all belong to the same world. We are related to one another by virtue of being humans. All humans trace their ancestry to the same origin. Likewise, in Harry Porter's world, both the muggleborns and the pureblood wizards have one thing in common: they are all wizards and magicians. However, the politics of differences between the muggleborn and the pureblood wizards often created the constant perception of one group as 'the other' and another group of the Pureblood wizards. For instance, the pureblood wizards constantly perceived the muggleborns as 'the other,' not of the true decent of the wizarding society. Tensions and persecution, therefore, began to crop up between these two warring groups.
When countries such as the USA, Lebanon, Jordan, Kenya, etc. look into dispelling the refugees in their countries, refusing to accept more refugees or cutting down aid meant to service the refugees, several questions emerge. For instance, why other people would be denied the chance to seek refuge and security in another country. Consequently, the question of 'the other' in Harry Potter's world comes into play. The revolving theme in the works of Rowling is the constant struggle to maintain harmony between different races, ethnic groups and the disparities existing between them. Rowling draws from the racial ideologies of the Nazi governance systems. In Harry Potter's world, there was a significant divide in the wizards based on the ancestry and magical ability into the muggleborns, the half-bloods and the pureblood wizards. Consequently, these intangible attitudes existing in Harry Potter's wizarding society translated into serious segregation within itself through the construction of 'the other' ideology. Throughout the wizarding society, the muggleborns are referred to as the 'mudbloods', a rather insulting word that can be equated to 'nigger' used to refer to African-Americans. The name-calling itself is an insult to the muggleborns, set to alienate them from pureblood wizards.
The problems of social difference are explained by Gellner in the context of the 'state' and the 'nations' found within the respective states. While the state is the large umbrella in which every citizen belongs, there are several different nations represented by the ethnic and racial groups making up the state as a whole. Consequently, the modern states are divided sharply along tribal and ethnic lines which describe the nations represented within them. Consequently, defining the people belonging to a particular state without taking into account the different nations represented within them. As the immigration levels continue to increase in different states, the diversity of the nations represented in them continues to expand as well. These conditions often lead to racial tensions, segregation, and ethnic alienations as was evident in Harry Potter's society. Taking the whole world as a state, we can, therefore, attribute the different races represented in it to the different nations living within the earth. Different forms of prejudices about the perception of the refugees as 'the other' by the majority groups in the host countries mostly stem from the concept of nationalism as opposed to a unified state.
Brown's work, quoted in Barratt identified 4 'I's which he attributed to the creation and maintenance of the notion of 'the other' and the hierarchical differences associated with it. These include ignorance, indifference, intolerance and insecurity. In multination states, these factors are often in play to create and maintain segregation between the different groups of people in the states. Among the most diverse states in the world, the United States is also the largest home to refugees and immigrants from all over the world. Consequently, the US has been on the forefront in disallowing more refugees from entering the country in the recent past. President Trump's administration, for instance, declined to take refugees from Australia and drafted an executive order to bar Syrian refugees and other immigrants from Muslims majority regions such as Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Libya, etc. from entering the country. Trump's executive orders against refugees' migration have received support and criticism in equal measure from the American Society and other pro-security groups. Various issues prompted the Trump's administration to want to bar more refugees from coming into the US. Among them included security, the refugees' burden and the influence of 'the other' labeled on the Muslims societies by the Western world.
Race and ethnicity are at the center of the present refugees' issues and has been linked to profiling of individuals by assigning traits (negative and positive) depending on their races. In addition to the question of race are the differences in skin color, language, and religion as the primary distinguishing factors for people living in the same regions. When referring the question of race in the US for instance, three different classes often emerge: the whites, Latin-Americans and the African-Americans (also known as the whites, red and the blacks). Similarly, in Harry Porter's world, three races come out distinctively (the purebloods, the half-blood and the muggles) representing the whites, Latinos and African-Americans in the US context at present. The muggles, like the African Americans, are placed at the lowest cadre of the social ranks. Consequently, the blacks undergo a series of problems than the rest due to their least regarded statuses. In Harry Potter's world, race is also an intriguing question which brings distinctions among the individuals in the wizarding world. The muggleborns and the Pureblood wizards are considered different because of where they are born before joining the wizarding community.
In the same way, the ancestry of the refugees currently influences where they belong and how they should be treated altogether. For instance, by virtue of being 'blacks' in the US (African-Americans) one qualifies to be on the wrong side of the law i.e. the 'blacks' are considered a criminal and a potential threat to the whites to the white folks. Likewise the muggleborns in Harry Porter's society are considered a danger to the purebloods and are constantly mistreated. Also, the people of Muslim origin are associated with terror and aggression leading to violence. Other Asian Americans such as the Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. who are living in the US are further profiled as drugs peddlers and traffickers. This profiling has not only affected the mode of relationships between the refugees and the host communities but has also been used lately to determine who enters where, as a refugee, and who should get what kinds of aids as refugees.
Although Brown's 'I'could be linked to this phenomenon, a mix of hatred and facts are equally in play. Barratt agrees with racial profiling in the wizarding world based on one's ancestry (the groupings in terms of pureblood wizards and the muggleborns). Also, he points out that although the muggleborns were looked down upon by the pureblood wizards, the earlier was at a disadvantage to the later. Being born outside the wizarding world meant that those born in the wizarding world possessed superior qualities, had an inherent (an innate) capability to ...