Between Policy and Practice : An Analysis of Refugee Agency and Governance in Protracted Refugee Situations

Abstract

Refugee camps are frequently conceptualized as spaces in which social and political life is reduced to biological concerns of survival or bare life. Refugees themselves, on the other hand, are often portrayed either as voiceless victims in need of help or as a threat to the nation-state and international order. Less often, however, they are seen as “normal” human beings concerned with their lives and situations or as active agents pursuing certain objectives.

Drawing upon Za’atari, the largest Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, this thesis critically examines the agency of displaced persons in protracted refugee situations. It explores the opportunities available to, and restrictions imposed on, displaced people to take initiative and actively participate in shaping their present and future lives. Using agency as a theoretical framework, different forms of agency are examined, including overt and covert forms, such as rejection, assimilation, bypassing, and manipulation, as well as their persistence in small-scale actions and under constrained conditions. Moreover, this thesis analyzes the structural and contextual factors that may restrict or enable mobilization and agency, including legal, political, and institutional constraints. In this context, the interaction between international frameworks and actors and national regulations and actors is also discussed.

The thesis is divided into three main parts. The first part explores the concept of agency and provides insight into the international and national frameworks that affect the context of the Za’atari refugee camp. It also discusses how these frameworks strengthen and hinder refugees’ efforts to become active agents, paying particular attention to the role of UNHCR. The second part analyzes the implementation of these frameworks in practice and discusses the extent to which the UNHCR and Jordanian stakeholders comply with international standards and laws, pointing to dichotomies between policies and their implementations as well as violations of basic human rights. Finally, it examines how refugees manage to overcome restrictions and obstacles to mobilize and take an active role in shaping their lives and broader processes, and what political and ethical implications the findings have for the governance of refugees.