Service Protectiveness and Refugee-Host Community Relations in Developing States

• In Event: Refugees and Local Politics (Pre-Recorded)

Abstract

How does service delivery affect social cohesion between refugees and host communities? In what ways does this vary by sector, and by real and perceived levels of scarcity within sectors? How do service delivery shocks such as a pandemic impact social cohesion? In refugee-hosting localities, competition over resources has been shown to worsen inter-communal social cohesion and create resentment (Lopez et al. 2011; Zhou 2019). There is nevertheless limited evidence on how inequalities in public goods can shape attitudes towards refugee inclusion in different communities. Our paper utilizes extensive observational data and an original WhatsApp survey of refugees and host community members in Uganda fielded during COVID-19 to analyze how changes in perceptions of access to and quality of services across sectors affect host citizen attitudes towards refugees in localities in Uganda, Jordan, and Ethiopia. We provide evidence that higher host community perception of service quality can result in negative attitudes towards refugees through the phenomenon of “service protectiveness.” We also present preliminary findings of how shocks such as a pandemic can shape these inter-group dynamics in refugee-hosting communities.

Authors

• Shelby Carvalho, Harvard University

• Reva Dhingra, Harvard University

• Olivia Asmara Woldemikael, Harvard University