How Wars Impact Public Administration and Street-Level Bureaucracy: Teachers and Education Professionals on the Frontlines of the Russian Occupation in Ukraine

Abstract

The role of street-level bureaucrats (SLBs), such as teachers, healthcare workers and police officers, has garnered increasing attention in Public Administration literature. Nonetheless, a subfield of significant theoretical and empirical relevance remains underexplored—their role in wars and conflicts over territorial control. This paper aims to analyze how wars impact the work of SLBs and the strategies they adopt to cope with the adversities of these contexts. For that, we focus on the war in Ukraine, the most intense conflict on European soil since World War II. We address education professionals as an SLB subgroup since schools and universities have become pivotal targets of Russian occupation forces— a cultural frontline instrumental in the efforts to legitimize territorial annexation and assimilate local inhabitants. The analysis is based on a remote ethnography encompassing in-depth interviews with educators who experienced the Russian occupation in southern Ukraine (Kherson region), coupled with content analysis of reports from the media, human rights organizations, and state sources. The paper provides theoretical and empirical contributions by examining a context in which SLBs cope with extreme adversities: risks to life, complex ethical dilemmas and political pressures (disputes for their loyalty), as well as numerous uncertainties related to ruptures in institutional hierarchies, information flows, and sources of material resource. We develop a typology of four strategies (exit, collaborationism, remote adaptation and local defiance) underlying SLBs’ motivations and risks. Our findings may contribute to an emerging research agenda on the role of SLBs in wars and political violence—situations that, unfortunately, have become increasingly frequent across the globe.