​HOW CAN THEORIES OF INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN AND EVERYDAY INNOVATION REVEAL AGENCY FOR CHANGE IN REFUGEE COMMUNITIES?

Abstract

To what extent can the everyday innovations of refugees address the governance and resource gaps created by formal, legal institutions of the state? In their daily lives, refugees face unique institutional conditions that create environmental distortions, compromise livelihood resources, and potentially diminish long-term socioeconomic well-being. Theories in refugee literature debate the capacity refugees have to respond to these conditions. Some scholars contend that refugees have little power to overcome the state biopolitical structures that force depravity and eliminate rights. Others argue that refugees possess the agency to alter environmental, communal, and institutional aspects of everyday life to improve elements of their own well-being. The purpose of this paper is to contextualize my own research within the landscape of this ongoing debate and propose how new institutional analysis may be used as a tool to evaluate refugees’ agency for change. I explain how I will apply this analysis using a case study of everyday refugee life in two refugee accommodation centers in Cologne, Germany. This paper contributes to the theoretical debate about refugee agency by discussing how institutional analysis may help to understand how refugees overcome the various constraints that govern their existence through novel manipulations and everyday innovations of multiple aspects of their living spaces

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