Bureaucratic Violence and State manufactured Precarity, mapping the architecture of harm in the Greek asylum system.

This thesis investigates the phenomenon of "bureaucratic violence" within the Greek asylum system, examining how administrative delays and procedural barriers function as mechanisms of structural exclusion. Drawing on a multi-sited ethnographic study in Athens and Corinthos, the research analyzes the "liminal" space occupied by asylum seekers—a condition of enforced "stuckness" characterized by legal uncertainty and material deprivation. Through semi-structured interviews with asylum seekers, humanitarian professionals, and legal experts, the study traces the causal link between state-manufactured precarity and the emergence of exploitative labor practices. The findings reveal an "Architecture of Abandonment," where the denial of essential documentation and the fragmentation of support services create a "transition cliff" that pushes recognized refugees into homelessness and the shadow economy. By applying the theoretical frameworks of Johan Galtung’s "structural violence" and Rob Nixon’s "slow violence," this thesis argues that the dysfunction of the Greek asylum system is not a result of incapacity but a deliberate political technology designed to deter, exhaust, and marginalize.