Turkey’s governance of Syrian refugees: a case of transformation towards regulatory statehood

Ten years following the initial wave of Syrian refugees into Turkey, Turkey’s governance of this displaced population is heralded by some as an example to follow and prescribed policy reforms by others. However, among these technocratic approaches, there is a lack of challenging this neo-Weberian, state capacity conceptualization of governance. We instead approach this subject with the mindset that governance is not organic, but a purposeful process that functions to privilege certain interests and minimize others. Seeking an explanation of Turkey’s governance of Syrian refugees, we place this process within the state’s broader neoliberalization. First, this project problematizes the mainstream theoretical approaches to analyzing Turkey’s governance of Syrian refugees and posit the State Transformation Approach (STA) as an alternative. We then apply this framework to empirical evidence received from Gaziantep, a municipality of Turkey that where Syrians are concentrated. We conclude this project with three main take-aways: Turkey’s governance of Syrian refugees cannot be understood outside of a critical analysis of its capitalist development, Turkey’s governance of Syrian refugees constitutes one process in the transformation of the Turkish state towards Regulatory Statehood, and the future of Syrians in Turkey will continue to be determined by Turkey’s capitalist development, and its transformation into regulatory statehood.