Global forced displacement is on the rise with 32.5 million people currently living as refugees, about half of whom are school-aged children and youth. Within this context, refugee inclusion in host country education systems has emerged as a growing policy priority in an effort to improve education access and quality. However, there is limited research on the impacts of the policy shift and many challenges remain. Addressing this gap, this dissertation examines the internal and external influences on host country refugee education policy decisions, the ways refugee inclusion in national education systems interacts with social cohesion, and the role of the global aid system in facilitating the inclusion of refugees. Data for this comparative case study across Lebanon and Turkey are based on 47 semi-structured interviews with education actors engaged in the response to the Syrian crisis at the global, regional, national, and local levels to examine the assumptions, influences, processes, and practices of refugee inclusion in national education systems. This dissertation is presented in three distinct papers. The first examines why policies of refugee inclusion were enacted, the timing of such reforms, and contextual reasons why reforms took the shape they did. Drawing on policy transfer scholarship, my findings reveal that some of the drivers to embrace global refugee policies include expectations for crisis resolution, calculation of political and economic risks and benefits, and the operational realities of their education systems. The second paper questions the logic that policies of inclusion necessarily support social cohesion and sustainable peace in refugee-hosting contexts. I apply the '4Rs' framework of Redistribution, Recognition, Representation, and Reconciliation (Novelli, Lopes Cardozo & Smith, 2017) to analyze the ways that education interventions in support of refugee inclusion have contributed to social tension in Lebanon and Turkey while providing and important opportunity to address longstanding issues of marginalization and exclusion beyond refugees. The final paper builds on constructivist international relations theory to explore the relationship between the global refugee education policy agenda, the interests of donor states, and what that means for international responsibility-sharing, a foundational component of the refugee inclusion movement. I argue that there is a complex relationship between efforts to include refugees in national education systems and the national interests of donor countries including discouraging onward migration, promoting stability and social cohesion in neighboring regions, and reinforcing global hierarchies in the international system. Findings across the three papers contribute to theoretical and empirical debates around refugee education and humanitarian and development action. I conclude by pulling together themes that run through the dissertation and discussing theoretical and empirical contributions across the three papers.

Introduction. Humanity is now witnessing one of the highest rates of displacement since the beginning of its history, with an unprecedented 79.5 million people around the world being forced to leave their homes; among whom are 26 million refugees. Since 2011, the protracted Syrian war has threatened the stability and well-being of all persons affected by the war. In these complex emergencies, regular access to resources, pathways to building social ties, and utilization of existing service networks (such as education, healthcare, and protection) are disrupted. Method. Nine Syrian refugees and Lebanese host currently living in Lebanon screened positive for clinical depression and receiving interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) by Lebanese providers were recruited for the study. A novel social network assessment tool using a dynamic network framework was designed and preliminarily tested to explore social support and conflict in the sample during IPT. Changes in social support and conflict resolution were assessed pre-and post-IPT in the depressed selection. Results. To our knowledge, this is the first-of-its-kind study to adopt a dynamic, multiplex, open-system approach to identifying, classifying, and exploring temporal changes in the social network roles in both refugees and host population(s) with specific goal orientation. This is also the first to study these in the context of individuals with a mental health problem receiving IPT for depression treatment. Outcomes indicate promise of the use of the dynamic network theory’s survey approach (aka network goal analysis) among depressed participants and provides important insights about pathways through which persons activate social support and resolve conflict in a humanitarian emergency setting. Discussion. Amidst war, economic downturn, COVID-19 pandemic, and recent bomb blasts, communities have been fragmented and their social ties, severed. Increasing rates of common mental disorders have worsened peoples’ capabilities for survival. This novel dynamic network approach to the study of social support and conflict resolution brings into focus pathways and social roles among depressed individuals crucial for social support, with implications for policy makers and mental health practitioners. Keywords. Dynamic networks, Interpersonal psychotherapy, Social support, Conflict, Cohesion