Bureaucracy implies clear rules and well-established procedures that are followed. But how do German public authorities operate when faced with the complexity and real life realities of migration and individual life courses? And how do migrant applicants respond when they encounter a system that often differs markedly from the public administrations they are familiar with? Social anthropologist Anna Louban examines these questions in her book "Deutsche Migrationsbürokratie: Akteur:innen, Praktiken, rechtliche Regelungen und die (un)intendierten Konsequenzen institutioneller Dynamiken".

Through participant observation, Anna Louban followed migration authority staff whose daily work involves transforming the complexities of individual lives into categories, documents and procedures that can be processed by the bureaucracy. The book vividly illustrates how this process works in practice, the challenges it poses for those involved and the consequences it can produce, including unintended and unforeseeable ones.

Open Access Book: "Deutsche Migrationsbürokratie"

The book „Deutsche Migrationsbürokratie: Akteur:innen, Praktiken, rechtliche Regelungen und die (un)intendierten Konsequenzen institutioneller Dynamiken“ (in German; doi: 10.5771/9783748957904) can be downloaded for free on the website of Velbrück Wissenschaft publishing.