Survival Loops: Refugee Coping Strategies in Protracted Crises

Refugees living in contexts of protracted displacement face overlapping and recurring crises that extend beyond the initial experience of forced migration. This article examines how refugees in Malaysia navigate such crises while living under conditions of legal precarity, economic marginalization, and social exclusion. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative interviews with refugee community leaders conducted across four rounds between 2020 and 2022, the study identifies 32 distinct coping mechanisms employed in response to external shocks and everyday structural constraints. These mechanisms are grouped into five categories inspired by Lazarus and Folkman’s stress-coping framework: problem-focused, emotion-focused, meaning-focused, social-support-based, and maladaptive coping. The analysis shows that while many coping strategies provide temporary relief and demonstrate considerable agency within refugee communities, structural barriers significantly limit their long-term effectiveness. Legal exclusion, restricted access to formal employment, and social marginalization shape the range of coping strategies available and often prevent adaptive responses from translating into sustained improvements in wellbeing. To capture this dynamic, the article introduces the concept of a “survival loop,” a cycle in which crises trigger coping responses that alleviate immediate pressures but ultimately reproduce vulnerability over time. By situating coping strategies within the broader structural conditions of protracted displacement, the study contributes to crisis and refugee studies by highlighting the limits of resilience-focused approaches and emphasizing the importance of structural interventions in shaping long-term wellbeing.