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Winning Hearts and Minds

31 October 2018, 12:15 pm–1:30 pm

Konstantinos Matakos

Winning Hearts and Minds: The Role of Cultural, Economic and Security Considerations on the Successful Integration of Syrian Refugees in Turkey Part of the SSEES Economics and Business Seminar Series

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

Economics and Business Seminar Series

Location

431
SSEES
16 Taviton Street
London
WC1H 0BW

How do economic, cultural and security concerns affect host society attitudes towards integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey? The question is of policy relevance as Turkey --a Muslim-majority country hosting more than 3.5 million refugees-- is considered by the EU as the ideal place to host most of the Syrian refugees. We conduct an online conjoint survey experiment (with a sample of 2,400 respondents) in which we present our respondents with pairs of Syrian refugee profiles that differ by gender, age, marital status, ethnicity, profession, social connection with local citizens and prior involvement in the civil war. We then ask our respondents which of the two profiles of refugees they would prefer to move next to their house (social integration), to give a work or business permit (economic integration) and to be given citizenship (ethnic integration).  Our experiment contributes to the study of host society attitudes towards refugees and desire to integrate them in at least three ways: First, our questions on integration are capturing in a more direct way the desire of locals to engage in direct –everyday life-- social interactions with refugees. Second, our focus on refugees’ potential prior involvement in the civil war allows us to identify the role that security considerations –in addition to cultural ones-- play in hindering/facilitating the integration of refugees in their host communities. Third, by directly manipulating refugees’ desire to form social connections with locals, we also examine whether pro-active behavior to integrate from the part of refugees facilitates or improves local’s attitudes towards them. Finally, it is also important that this is the first such survey experiment in a Muslim-majority country with a much higher number of Syrian refugees than in any of the European countries.

This is event is free and open to all, no need to register.

About the Speaker

Konstantinos Matakos

Lecturer at King's College London

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