Stretching the Limits of Discretion: How Embedded Bureaucrats Cater to Refugees?

The positive effect of social capital on integration outcomes has long been recognized by broader academic and policy literature (Beirens et al. 2007; Cheung and Phillimore 2014; Strang and Ager 2010). These studies primarily focus on refugees’ connectedness – on different types of social ties that refugees have with a diverse group of actors including individuals, refugee and host communities, and service providers, and the implications of these ties on refugee livelihoods in general. However, there is relatively limited research on how bureaucrats’ or more broadly service providers’ social ties to different sets of actors affect local service provision for refugees and refugee integration at large. Building on 44 interviews and ethographic observations collected at three district level municipalities in Istanbul, Turkey, this paper finds that embedded bureaucrats who have stronger informal ties to their communities are more likely to assist refugees because Informal ties provide them insider knowledge, which they use for convincing their superiors about the necessity and benefit of providing social services to refugees, navigate potential backlash from the public, and extend their discretionary space. Their insider knowledge and experience in the field also allow them to attract external funding, build coalitions around their ideas and earn a reputation for their agencies and mayors. Findings presented in this paper advance the research on the relationship between bureaucratic embeddedness and public service provision emanating from the public administration literature as well as contribute to the migration studies focusing on the relationship between social ties and refugee integration and the bureaucratic incorporation of immigrants.