Larking, Emma2015-12-071323-238Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/18750In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt is famously scathing of the societies established between World Wars I and II to advocate on behalf of refugees and advance the protection of human rights. In Arendt�s view, �all societies formed for the protection of the Rights of Man � showed an uncanny similarity in language and composition to that of societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals�. The human rights they invoked were nothing more than �the standard slogan of the protectors of the underprivileged, a kind of additional law, a right of exception necessary for those who had nothing better to fall back upon� (1968b, 293). In this article, I compare the position of exiles now living in or seeking to gain entry to Western states to that of Arendt�s interwar refugees. I argue that for the modern-day exile, human rights continue to function inadequately as �a kind of additional law � for those who [have] nothing better to fall back upon�. I conclude that contemporary exiles have much in common with Arendt�s interwar refugees, and pose similar dilemmas insofar as the invocation of universal human rights is concerned.201210.1080/1323-238X.2012.118820982020-11-15