REFUGEES, IMMIGRANTS, AND THE STATE

A realist versus nominalist debate within the field of international m igration questions whether refugees are fundamentally distinct from im migrants or whether the category is a social construction masking simi larities with immigrants. Contemporary refugee and immigrant flows con form to patterns of the world system. However, refugee migrations are caused by changes in the nation-state. Like immigrants, refugees organ ize migration through social networks, but the composition of their ne tworks and the effects of migration on social identity differ. In a ho st society, both populations adapt with household economic strategies that secure multiple income sources, although the state plays a greate r role in the adaptation of refugees. The partial convergence of two m igration forms once presumed opposite reveals general patterns in inte rnational migration and adaptation, supporting the nominalist perspect ive. The remaining differences suggest that refugees are primarily dis tinguished by their relationship to the state, thus supporting the rea list perspective.