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Expanding the boundaries of the local: entrepreneurial municipalism and migration governance in Turkey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2022

Saime Özçürümez*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
Julinda Hoxha
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Ankara Science University, Ankara, Turkey
*
*Corresponding author: Email: saime@bilkent.edu.tr

Abstract

This study investigates why and how entrepreneurial municipalism is manifested in the case of Turkey despite limited local government autonomy and capacity in the area of migration governance. This article suggests four entrepreneurial strategies to understand and explain the variation in municipal practices: local networking, community engagement, organizational adaptation, and city branding. The most common strategies adopted by municipalities are local networking and community engagement often based on external funding alternatives that bring rapid and locally contingent, yet less durable and future-oriented solutions to challenges of forced displacement in urban settings. Against this background, this article highlights the importance of pathways that cultivate a culture of diversity and inclusion in the context of sustainable local integration by investing more resources in organizational adaptation and city branding. Finally, this study suggests redefining the concept of municipal capacity in terms of performance by focusing on the entrepreneurial strategies employed by local governments in their day-to-day practices.

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.

This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey [117K827].

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