Public Service in the Absence of Accountability: Street-Level Bureaucrats' Occupational Ideology and Responsiveness to Citizens

The welfare policies politicians make in parliaments are implemented by bureaucrats in understaffed and crowded local offices. Because the social reality is much more complex than what written policies can cover, bureaucratic discretion is a fundamental component of policy implementation. Scholars have argued that accountability is crucial for preventing the arbitrary use of bureaucratic discretion and maintaining a responsive public service environment. However, in the absence of democratic institutions, what leads bureaucrats to provide accountable and responsive public service? By drawing from interviews conducted with municipal and ministry officials that implement large-scale urban transformation projects that target informal settlement neighborhoods in two cities of Turkey (Istanbul and Bursa), this thesis shows that, in the absence of accountability, occupational ideology becomes crucial in shaping how bureaucrats approach implementation and how they treat citizens.