A significant component of modern migrants are refugees or displaced persons. Historically, most involuntary migrants readily found permanent asylum in the traditional immigrant receiving countries of the New World. This situation is changing. Source areas of refugees have shifted from the European arena to the Third World, and the causes of flight have taken on new dimensions. Traditional concepts of who is a "refugee" need to be rethought, because many of today's forced migrants no longer fit such definitions. This paper examines the nature of contemporary forced migrations and calls for a redefinition of the concept of "refugee." Some of the considerations that are suggested for the formulation of a new definition include: (1) the degree of involuntariness of the refugee's decision to migrate; (2) the distinction between political and nonpolitical motivations; (3) whether the migration is international or intranational; and (4) the question of whether or not the migrant is accorded legal recognition as a refugee by his country of asylum. (Author/APM)