Migrants serving migrants? Representative bureaucracy at the front lines of migration management

Glyniadaki, Katerina ORCID: 0000-0002-7440-5698 (2024) Migrants serving migrants? Representative bureaucracy at the front lines of migration management. Journal of Public Policy. ISSN 0143-814X

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Abstract

The ways in which minority street-level bureaucrats construe their identities as state representatives and as representatives of minority clients are known to inform their discretionary behavior toward clients, thereby shaping policy outcomes. While existing studies have examined race and ethnicity as shared identities between minority bureaucrats and clients, the role of “migrant” identity has been overlooked. Focusing on the so-called European migration crisis of 2015–2017, this study addresses this gap. Drawing on qualitative interviews with migrant bureaucrats, it examines how being simultaneously a migrant and a migration policy implementer shapes bureaucratic discretion. This article introduces the notion of “migrant representative” and identifies four profiles of migrant bureaucrats, each corresponding to different degrees of identification with the local migration management system and the migrant clients. In doing so, it contributes to the literature on representative bureaucracy and the debate on the linkage between passive and active representation.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author
Divisions:	European Institute
Subjects:	J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration
Date Deposited:	26 Sep 2024 14:06
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2024 04:05
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125541

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