When Boat People Were Resettled, 1975-1983: A Comparative History of European and Israeli Responses to the South-East Asian Refugee Crisis

This book traces the reception of Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian refugees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Israel during the 'boat people' crisis, following the fall of Saigon in 1975 to North Vietnamese troops and the Viet Cong, and of Cambodia and Laos to communist armies the same year. Using a comparative historical approach, the authors demonstrate the multiple ways in which refugees were contested, accepted, received and resettled across different national contexts. Although the episode is held up today as an example of European generosity, this book illustrates how the reception of boat people in Western Europe and Israel was shaped by the Cold War, and by specific national preoccupations over international prestige, immigration, labour supply and the place of foreign-born strangers in their increasingly diverse societies. While the post-2015 refugee crisis in Europe has often been construed as a new challenge requiring an unprecedented coordinated international response, this book shows the longer history of such dilemmas.
Chapter 4 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.