ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the migration crisis once regarded as a temporary security matter evolved into a transnational ‘social question’, causing problems of administrative capacity, social cohesion and integration in the neighbouring countries, difficult to manage by a single country. It focuses on the concept of ‘state capacity’ coined by the sociologist Michael Mann, with respect to two forms of power: a ‘despotic’ and an ‘infrastructural’. A growing number of incidents involving Turkish citizens and Syrian refugees in various locations resulted in the quest for a ‘right based approach’ with a long-term integration policy that would secure refugees’ rights through social and economic adjustments. The chapter describes the impacts of the crisis on Turkey’s state capacity in areas from health and public administrations to housing and education. It argues that the migration crisis revealed the lack of deliberative content in policy making and implementation, reflecting a deep-rooted state-centric mentality in Turkey.
