Whether they flee their homeland for political activism or to avoid repression, individuals who are forced into exile radically transform the nature of their lives and the world around them. As such, their experiences enrich debates about governance, liberty, and human rights that transcend time and place. In the case of John Milton, his personal experiences as an exile underscore the power of individual autonomy to enrage or inspire regimes.
Although the term ‘political exile’ is often used to distinguish between refugees/migrants and involuntary displaced persons, the distinction is not always easy to draw. Refugees and displaced persons may be motivated by political as well as economic factors, and hard and fast rules about choice are frequently difficult to maintain. For instance, a fugitive who is denied reentry to their home country because of their activities may have exercised some degree of choice by leaving before they were arrested, while a person who was removed from the territory of their homeland because of conflict or disaster could have been driven to leave by economic conditions that did not involve political activity.
During a wartime occupation or after a coup d’état, governments-in-exile may be established abroad to assert continued legitimacy even while they are no longer in control of the land they once governed. Historically, these governments have enjoyed substantial privileges such as representation in inter-State negotiations and diplomatic immunities. The most famous example is the Tibetan government-in-exile headed by the 14th Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. Similarly, the municipal council in exile of Lapithos in northern Cyprus was set up to assert the locality of Greek Cypriots now living outside their country.