The book looks at refugee and asylum policies of Australia, Canada and New Zealand in light of current debates on globalisation and citizenship. The resettlement of refugees was a by product of the Cold War, coupled with a quest on to boost populations and to fulfil labour shortages. The pressures of global restructuring have resulted in a reformulation of refugee policies. The once humanitarian responses have been converted into policies of containment, with increased controls to prevent the arrival of asylum seekers. Measures imposed have resulted in barriers for asylum seekers and exclusion by nation states by reference to national sovereignty and security. The authors stress that so called 'illegal migration' is primarily related to the political and economic structures across the world, primacy of transnational capital. Border controls and interdiction measures are bound to fail as they reinforce this divide.The authors call for the entrenchment of rights firmly into the Refugee Convention as well as the development of a new form of citizenship, where citizenship and belonging is not embedded in a single nation.

Linda Briskman is the Dr Haruhisa Handa Chair in Human Rights Education at Curtin University of Technology. Her research interests include Indigenous policy and refugee and asylum seeker rights. Her most recent book is Social Work with Indigenous Communities (The Federation Press, 2007). Alperhan Babacan is a lecturer in law at the School of Accounting and Law, RMIT University. Alperhan holds degrees in law and political science and a PhD from RMIT University. He has previously worked in the public and private sectors as researcher or solicitor and has written widely in areas of human rights law, comparative asylum and refugee policy, international law, counter-terrorism, citizenship and human security.

This book critically examines Australia's counter terrorism measures by looking at the country's legislative framework within the context of an international law framework and norms relating to human rights. It discusses the Australian governments justifications for the war on terrorism and sociological theories relating to `risk society' as a way to explain Australia's counter terrorism policies and the impact of the war on terror on social cohesion in Australia. It looks at the adverse impacts of the war on terror on Muslims in Australia and their sense of belonging in a multicultural society and analyses these developments from a sociological perspective. The book also explores the recent shift in the Australian governments' approach to countering terrorism, a shift from a coercive approach to tackling terrorism to a community engagement approach focused on building relationships and trust with Australia's diverse communities, particularly the Muslim community.