Externalization or imitation: the 2015–16 asylum-seeker immigration as a catalyst for local structural change

Abstract

When in 2015–2016, several hundred thousand new asylum-seekers arrived in Germany, this put local administrations to a test. In contrast to scholars who identified a “crisis of the administration” or a situation of “state failure”, this article argues that the events in some cases served as a motor for administrative change. Drawing on the sociology of organizations, the paper shows that this period is better understood as a time of fundamental uncertainty rather than a crisis of the administration, and that the local state proved capable of dealing with uncertainty. In line with theories of organizations and based on qualitative interview data collected in three German cities, the paper identifies two ideal-typical strategies for reducing uncertainty–externalization or change through imitation. The text demonstrates how two of the three municipalities moved towards change.