Types of Refugees - Croatian and Bosnian·herzegovinian Experiences

Some researchers have warn ed that in the field of refugee study and research the dichotomic categorization "refugees vs. non-refugees", used in legal and administrative procedures, is not considered satisfactory in sociological analysis. The author of this article has come to the same conclusion in his research about the prospects of return of Croatian displaced persons and refugees, as well as Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees. The first series of inquiries was conducted at-the height of the refugee crisis, at the beginning of 1992. We surveyed 726 examinees, Croatian dispIacees in Croatia and Croatian refugees in Germany and some one hundred interviews about the reasons of fleeing were recorded. Another one hundred interviews were recorded on cassettes during a more recent survey of Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees, conducted from the summer of 1993 to the spring of 1994 in Croatia, Hungary and Germany. At the same time, 1247 respondents from both groups of refugees answered questionnaires. The results of both surveys and especially of the interviews have led the author to construct several typologies of refugees with regard to reasons of fleeing, the reaction of the examinees to the situation of refuge and the issue of return. In this article the author expounds the typology or categorization of refugees and displaced persons based on differences in pre-refugee experiences. Thus, the main categorization criterion of refugees into certain types was the degree of danger for their physical and psychological integrity they were exposed to prior to fleeing. Therefore, six categories of refugees and displaced persons were discerned: I) anticipating refugees/displacees; II) semi-refugees/displacees; III) impelled refugees/displacees; IV) refugees/displacees of war; v) expellees; VI) ex-camp inmates refugees/displacees. ln elaborating his typology, the author put forward two broad er conclusions. First, refugee groups are commonly composed of socio-psychologically heterogeneous subgroups with greatly differing pre-refugee experiences. Second, the political and societal dynamics of a refugee crisis produces fluctuation within and among refugee groups or types.