Without a Country

Statelessness is a forgotten crisis. The term “stateless person” applies only to individuals who are not recognized as nationals by any state. Refugees, by contrast, are defined as people who generally retain their nationality but leave their countries of origin for “reasons of persecution.” Such international classifications matter. The controversy in the summer of 2015 over whether to call the thousands of people fleeing Syria and other conflict-ridden countries “refugees” or “migrants” indicates the power of legal definitions to trigger specific state obligations. It is also the reason why those in power often choose their words so carefully.

Mira Siegelberg reviews Finding Time: The Economics of Work-Life Conflict by Heather Boushey and What Works: Gender Equality by Design by Iris Bohnet.