Integration and multi-level governance in Turkey's small towns: an actor centred analysis

This article examines how refugee integration is governed in Turkey's small towns, where strong centralization, local discretion, and informal practices intersect. Drawing on an actor-centred multi-level governance (MLG) framework, it analyzes interactions among Provincial Directorates of Migration Management, municipalities, non-governmental organizations, and refugee opinion leaders in two geographically, politically, and socioeconomically distinct small-town contexts. Based on 24 semi-structured interviews and policy analysis, the study shows that while integration governance in both towns is shaped by centralized authority and limited local autonomy, it unfolds through informal coordination, selective visibility, and reliance on personal ties. At the same time, important differences emerge in how local actors respond to these constraints, with one case producing a more cautious and the other a more exclusionary governance configuration. Overall, by focusing on small towns rather than metropolitan centres, the article demonstrates how urban scale magnifies political risk, informality and dependence on intermediary actors. In doing so, it advances a more differentiated and scale-sensitive understanding of multi-level governance under conditions of centralization and constrained local capacity.