Who are refugees? Who, if anyone, is responsible for protecting them? What forms should this protection take? In a world of people fleeing from corrupt governments, civil wars, state failure, famine and environmental disasters, these are politically urgent and ethically pressing questions. In this book, David Owen reveals how the contemporary politics of refugee protection is structured by two rival pictures of refugees, and traces their roots in the history of refugee protection. By reconstructing this history, he proposes a way of understanding the value and purpose of the institution of refugeehood that moves us beyond our current impasse. Distinguishing between what is owed to refugees in general and what is owed to different types of refugee, Owen provides a clear account of the responsibilities of refugee protection and the forms of international co-operation required to discharge them. At a time when refugee protection is once again prominent on the international agenda, this book offers a guide to understanding the challenges it raises and why addressing it matters for all of us, citizen and refugee alike.