Forced migration has increased dramatically in the past few decades, and the causes of displacement have become increasingly complex. There is no doubt that wars and natural disasters propel forced migration. In addition, factors such as population pressures, international development projects and transnational extractive businesses, environmental degradation, flooding and drought resulting from climate change and extreme weather, intense economic inequality and marginalization, rampant criminal trafficking networks (of humans, drugs, and other resources), corruption, and ineffectual justice systems are also important in understanding forced migration. The interaction of these processes contributes to vast levels of human insecurity. Furthermore, the weakness of many nation-states in looking after their vulnerable populations can contribute to these push factors, leading to widespread migration. It is critical that both forced migration and the humanitarian apparatus designed to address it be understood in contemporary society within this broader confluence of factors, themselves embedded in processes of rapid globalization, neoliberal economic policies, and growing inequality.