CLUSTER C9

The Multilevel Governance of Immigrant and Immigration Policies

 

 

 

THE LOCAL DIMENSION OF MIGRATION

POLICY-MAKING IN EUROPE

Turin, 10^th May 2007

 

 

Call for Papers

 

 

 

Within the activities of IMISCOE cluster C9 (www.imiscoe.org), an international conference will be held in Turin the 10^th of May on the “Local dimension of migration policy-making in Europe”.

 

In contemporary multi-level state organisations, migration policy-making processes do not necessarily follow hierarchical patterns (from the EU to the State and lastly to the local authorities and third sector organisations). Multi-level interactions, (hidden) conflicts and negotiations are more likely to be found. Against this background, local policies assume particular relevance by facing immigration as a de-facto reality and by experiencing integration as an imperative of every-day practices in matters of housing, health services and other social service. Also risks of negative reactions and backlash from the autochthonous population have to be considered and dealt with.

 

Despite of the growing interest in the local dimension of migratory policies, the state of the art of studies is deficient in many respects, such as:

1)    they focus more on policy content than on policy-making processes, overlooking the role of local networks and non-governmental organisations in promoting different models of local interventions;

2)    they do not consider the dimension of EU/national/local relations, looking at local initiatives as isolated cases, rather than elements in broader policy-making chains;

3)    they take generally into consideration a limited number of cities in Northern and Central Europe, while attention towards Southern and Eastern European cities is still episodic. Systematically approaches are generally missing.

 

The conference intends to deal with these three critical points, in order to promote a step further in the study of the local dimension of migration policy-making. The papers will have to address one of the following issues:

-       Top/down policy-making processes: differences in implementation of EU/national/regional laws/regulations; cases of creative or innovative implementation; cases of conflict between national/regional governments/authorities and local ones over implementation of immigration and immigrants’ integration policies;

-       Bottom/up policy-making processes: cases of pressures from local level policy actors in order to change/revise existing regulations/legislation/policies; cases of cross-level learning, i.e. innovative practices/policies started at a local level and then incorporated in higher level (regional/national/EU) policies; cases of cities/local actors’ coalitions promoting revision/change of immigration and/or immigrants’ integration policies;

-       Local actors relations: differences in policy-networks dealing with immigration in different cities/local contexts; role played in policy-making processes on immigration and/or immigrant integration by different actors’ categories, i.e. politicians, administrators, third sector organisations, unions, immigrant associations etc.; different styles in social services delivery and relations between foreign users and street level bureaucrats.

 

 

Empirical case studies on Southern and Eastern Europe cities will be particularly welcomed, as well as comparative case studies, especially of a cross-city/cross-national type. PhD students and young researchers working in the field are encouraged to send a paper proposal.

 

 

 

 

Paper proposals have to be sent by the 15^th December 2006 to:

fieri@fieri.it

 

Please, indicate as subject: C9 CALL FOR PAPERS

 

 

 

 

 

Paper proposals, in form of an abstract of not more than 1,500 characters (spaces included), have to specify: the case/cases analysed; the policy-making dimension (top-down, bottom-up, actors’ relations) investigated; the hypothesis/goals underlying the work; the methods used.

 

Ten papers will be selected to be presented the 10^th of May in Turin. Experts in the field will be invited to act as discussants. Results of the selection procedure will be communicated by the 10^th of January at the latest.

 

Final papers have to be sent to fieri@fieri.it by the 20^th of April 2006. Cluster C9 will cover travel and hotel expenses of selected participants.

 

 

For more information and requests, please write to: tiziana.caponio@fieri.it.