Local Refugee Aid Policy Development: Berlin Policymakers’ Strategic Appropriation of Federal Law

Most studies of immigration policy in Europe focus on federal policy development. From the 1980s to the 2000s, German federal asylum laws grew progressively restrictive. How did local governments respond to rising numbers of asylum seekers? Research has neglected local policy processes, particularly interactions between national and subnational policymaking. German localities are responsible for implementing federal refugee aid laws, which shape refugee quality of life. I show how West Berlin and Berlin policymakers critiqued, interpreted, reacted to and used federal policies as they determined how to provide housing and aid for refugees. Berlin policy choices did not consistently follow federal policy development; they treated federal laws as guidelines that were subject to local preferences rather than edicts to follow. I highlight the importance of local policies for understanding how national and international policies are implemented, how local choices may affect their impact, and how federal policies affect local policy development.