Research

I study the governance of international and internal forced migration in diverse contexts. My research examines the intersection between urban governance and migration challenges, recently looking at how local authorities develop responses to asylum in the UK. I am interested in the governance processes and practices that shape decisions around migration responses at the local level, for example capacity-building initiatives, innovation, use of evidence, and coalition-building and partnerships. 

My PhD research, ‘Analysing the local governance of forced migration’, completed at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Department of Geography and Environment, was motivated by a major gap in research on cities as sites of refuge and public policy innovation. Previous work with governments, development and humanitarian partners in contexts as varied as Ukraine, Honduras, El Salvador, Syria, and more, I came to notice similar challenges in coordination between the local governments and their national-level counterparts when facing a displacement crisis. Local governments tend to be the first responders and service providers for those displaced living in their cities, yet national governments are the ones that make the majority of the decisions around migration policies. This creates tension but also opportunities for collaboration across levels of government.

To explore this dynamic I developed three papers in my PhD. These advance our theoretical understanding of the governance of forced migration. With this research I intervene in debates in the fields of political geography, urban studies and migration studies.

Paper 1: Multilevel Governance ‘from Above’: Analysing Colombia’s System of Co-Responsibility for Responding to Internal Displacement (published here)

Abstract: States bear the responsibility for the protection of people displaced internally by conflict and other causes. Though widely recognized, there is little research on how the state shares that responsibility between different levels of government. Colombia serves as a useful case for examining the evolving coordination between national and local governments. I conduct a thematic analysis of its 2015 Strategy of Co-responsibility regulating emergency humanitarian assistance. I argue that the Strategy represents a delicate compromise between enforcing minimum standards and respecting local autonomy. This means the System largely reaffirms existing vertical power relations, while also creating incentives for horizontal multilevel governance. The article explores the Strategy’s use of the language of ‘co-responsibility’, a technocratic action-planning process, and capacity-building initiatives. I propose frameworks from the literature on the multilevel governance of migration to identify the conditions for coordination between levels to emerge, bridging multilevel governance literature with forced migration literature.

Paper 2: Analysing the local governance of internal displacement: an emerging (local) social contract in eastern Ukraine since 2014 (published here, and based on work in eastern Ukraine described here)

Abstract: There is growing recognition of the challenges faced by internally displaced people as well as the potential for subnational actors to contribute to durable solutions. Despite this, we know little about local government responses, both in theory and practice. This paper draws on governance theories, practitioner experience and secondary literature to analyse the governance context, processes and interactions that shape the experience of internal displacement in eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2022. It argues that nascent relationships built between internally displaced people and local governments in eastern Ukraine reveal the possibility of bottom-up state-led responses. The paper intervenes in debates around rebuilding a “social contract” as a mechanism for resolving displacement, demonstrating why attention must be paid to how this occurs at local levels in places of refuge.

Paper 3: Proactive local government: how London borough councils build capacity to respond to asylum (Policy Brief published here, paper under review)

Abstract: London’s borough councils are adapting to the increase in asylum-seekers since 2020. I explore their shift from reactive to more strategic and proactive responses, observed during a series of ‘design lab’ workshops between January and June 2023 in the Greater London Authority’s Asylum Welcome programme. Driven by a need to be better prepared to support people seeking asylum, I examine how councils built capacity despite limited funding and no clear role within asylum policy.