What difference do mayors make? The role of municipal authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s response to Syrian refugees

With the majority of refugees now in urban areas, mayors and municipal authorities have been recognized as increasingly important policy actors in the global refugee regime. This trend is acknowledged in the policy literature. However, there has been little systematic academic research exploring the...

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Main Authors: Betts, A, Memisoglu, F, Ali, A
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2020
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author Betts, A
Memisoglu, F
Ali, A
author_facet Betts, A
Memisoglu, F
Ali, A
author_sort Betts, A
collection OXFORD
description With the majority of refugees now in urban areas, mayors and municipal authorities have been recognized as increasingly important policy actors in the global refugee regime. This trend is acknowledged in the policy literature. However, there has been little systematic academic research exploring the conditions under which mayors make a difference to refugee-policy outcomes. Theoretically, we outline a heuristic framework aimed at disaggregating key variables, including the independent influence of mayors, in shaping municipal-level outcomes. Empirically, the article assesses the role of municipal authorities and mayors in the two most numerically significant host countries for Syrian refugees: Turkey and Lebanon. It comparatively examines variation across six metropolitan municipalities, three from each country: Izmir, Adana and Gaziantep (Turkey), and Qalamoun, Anjar and Zahle (Lebanon). We show that mayors matter because they may mediate the implementation of national policies and because they sometimes adopt supplementary refugee policies and practices at the municipal level, which may be more or less proactive or more or less restrictive than central-government policy.
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spelling oxford-uuid:5ad30968-38fa-4c11-b4b8-8df7e90853aa2022-03-26T17:18:15ZWhat difference do mayors make? The role of municipal authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s response to Syrian refugeesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:5ad30968-38fa-4c11-b4b8-8df7e90853aaEnglishSymplectic ElementsOxford University Press2020Betts, AMemisoglu, FAli, AWith the majority of refugees now in urban areas, mayors and municipal authorities have been recognized as increasingly important policy actors in the global refugee regime. This trend is acknowledged in the policy literature. However, there has been little systematic academic research exploring the conditions under which mayors make a difference to refugee-policy outcomes. Theoretically, we outline a heuristic framework aimed at disaggregating key variables, including the independent influence of mayors, in shaping municipal-level outcomes. Empirically, the article assesses the role of municipal authorities and mayors in the two most numerically significant host countries for Syrian refugees: Turkey and Lebanon. It comparatively examines variation across six metropolitan municipalities, three from each country: Izmir, Adana and Gaziantep (Turkey), and Qalamoun, Anjar and Zahle (Lebanon). We show that mayors matter because they may mediate the implementation of national policies and because they sometimes adopt supplementary refugee policies and practices at the municipal level, which may be more or less proactive or more or less restrictive than central-government policy.
spellingShingle Betts, A
Memisoglu, F
Ali, A
What difference do mayors make? The role of municipal authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s response to Syrian refugees
title What difference do mayors make? The role of municipal authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s response to Syrian refugees
title_full What difference do mayors make? The role of municipal authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s response to Syrian refugees
title_fullStr What difference do mayors make? The role of municipal authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s response to Syrian refugees
title_full_unstemmed What difference do mayors make? The role of municipal authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s response to Syrian refugees
title_short What difference do mayors make? The role of municipal authorities in Turkey and Lebanon’s response to Syrian refugees
title_sort what difference do mayors make the role of municipal authorities in turkey and lebanon s response to syrian refugees
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