Abstract
AbstractAs Turkey has become one of the leading receiving countries for asylum seekers and refugees, not only new legislative initiatives regarding the legal status of Syrians, but also immigration policies have moved to the forefront of Turkey’s agenda. In parallel with recent developments, the new Regulation on Work Permits for People under Temporary Protection was enacted in 2016. Among the 3,5 million, almost half of Syrian refugees residing in Turkey are of working age population, yet the majority have been engaged in the informal labour market. We know little about how this permit to work takes effect at the local level. Drawing on structured interviews with local actors in Adana, this article shows that the absence of an integration policy drives local actors to engage in the formulation of their own integration approach, what I call “integration work”, which results in varying degrees of collaboration within the same province.
Highlights
Despite an extant literature on both national and local dimension of integration policies in different contexts, but we know little about how the lack of integration policies, envisaging coordination between central and local level mobilize local actors to introduce their own formulation and implementation mechanisms (Bruquetas-Callejo et al, 2008). This study addresses this gap, emphasizing the key role of both non-governmental actors and elected local actors in streamlining the work permit regulation and underpinning local labour market integration policies by serving as intermediaries in “integration work”
When the issue comes to implementation, regulations, in the lack of integration policies, are mediated by local actors depending on socio-demographic, socio-economic and socio-political circumstances and the needs of cities
The lack of labour market integration policy results in displaying a more decentralized character when the issue comes to its practicality at the local level
Summary
Migration scholars and policymakers still debate the role of different types of welfare states in developing integration models and the importance of the level of policy implementation – national or local
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