This paper critically engages with Turkey’s refugee governance by offering insight into the daily struggles, aspirations, and longings of Syrian Kurdish migrants living in the inner-city neighbourhood of Demirkapı, Istanbul. It aims to sketch a multifaceted Kurdish geography of displacements beyond nation-state borders and to show how social differences and hierarchies of class, gender, and ethnicity shape greatly the experiences of the groups living in the neighbourhood. The paper is based on an ethnographic field research that consists of first-hand observations, conversations, and 25 semi-structured in-depth interviews with Kurdish migrants. The emplaced, ethnographic research is particularly promising to understand the daily lives of migrants and their multi-layered history of displacement and migration within and across borders. This history, we underscore, is not a past history, but one that unfolds in the present, within the current social hierarchies and in the midst of the ongoing crises in Syria and Iraq that poignantly shape the feelings, expectations, and memories of the Kurdish people currently living in Demirkapı. Each life trajectory, that we briefly describe, involves a strenuous effort to establish a relatively stable and enriching life under the precarious conditions of ongoing crises and authoritarian neoliberal capitalism.

The humanitarian engagement of Gulf States has globally increased over the last two decades. This trend also manifests itself in Lebanon, where the displacement from Syria has lead to an unprecedented growth of Lebanon’s diverse humanitarian sector. Due to the weakness of state institutions and the absence of a concerted government strategy, UN-institutions took a leading role in the coordination of international and local NGOs. However, numerous Gulf-funded organisations function largely outside the UN-coordinated response and rely on their own coordination structures. This paper explores these structures and characteristics of humanitarian assistance for Syrians displaced in Lebanon running primarily on Gulf funding. Thereby it focuses particularly on two umbrella organisations, URDA and I’tilaf, that are largely Gulf-funded and coordinate the work of numerous faith-based humanitarian organisations. Based on ethnographic field research – which was mainly conducted in 2014 and 2016 – the paper examines positions and negotiations within these humanitarian structures. These ethnographic insights are completed by an analysis of the available data and literature on Islamic charitable giving and funding trends in Lebanon. Coordination among the different humanitarian actors has repeatedly been a matter of complaint and discussion in both interviews and international reports: The lack of comprehensive coordination structures, the subsequent inefficiency in the use of funds, and the unsatisfying inclusion of local stakeholders are among the main points of critique. Here, Gulf-funded humanitarian assistance for Syrian refugees in Lebanon shows alternative models and approaches in regard to operating standards, administrative procedures, planning, reporting, and contact to the local population. Yet, ad hoc deliveries with few administrative procedures and a lack of transparency simultaneously expose the Gulf donors also to accusations of the misuse of funds and diminish accountability towards donors, beneficiaries and possible cooperation partners. This, finally, raises questions regarding the possibilities of the multilateral system to provide forums for exchange, efficient coordination, and mediation between conflicting positions.

This paper aims at presenting how three selected civil society organisations advocate for change, as well as the tools and skills they utilise. It also attempts to analyse the factors at play in the successes of their campaigns. The paper employs a qualitative method, identifying the different internal and external factors that make some campaigns more effective than others. The paper argues that campaigns were only successful when a number of these factors were present and when the policies put forward did not pose a threat to major political interests.  

Au lendemain de la création de l’Autorité palestinienne en 1994, une multitude d’acteurs se met à réaliser des projets collectifs de coopération au développement sous l’égide des bailleurs de fonds internationaux . L’analyse d’un projet financé par la Banque mondiale illustre la façon dont le projet devient un réseau de pouvoir, qui produit aussi bien les normes gestionnaires que les mécanismes nécessaires à leur application auprès des bénéficiaires de l’aide . Cela contribue à transfigurer le développement en une croyance dominante, fondée sur une lecture néolibérale et post-conflit de la société palestinienne . Au nom de la coordination pour la « bonne gouvernance,» cette mise en réseau structure le cadre de l’interaction des bénéficiaires de l’aide, tout en construisant un nouvel espace social : le « monde du développement.» Si l’adhésion des acteurs locaux à cette croyance se traduit par leur intériorisation des normes rationnelles, elle entraîne une nouvelle manière de percevoir la réalité sociale . De ce fait, un nouveau système de valeurs s’établit . Une nouvelle hiérarchie sociale s’instaure dans la « Palestine des bailleurs de fonds,» au sommet de laquelle se trouvent les bailleurs internationaux . Si l’article se fonde sur le cas palestinien, il aborde une thématique globale, celle de l’instrumentalisation de la « société civile » par les organisations internationales afin d’instaurer l’économie de marché dans les pays dépendants de l’aide dédiée au développement.