The Local Dimension of Migration Policymaking

This searching study offers a fresh perspective on the immigrant integration policy in European and North American cities. Revealing just where and how immigrants and their receiving societies interact on a daily basis, the authors show how societal inclusion operates at a local level in a wide range of major urban settings. The individual chapters focus on three particular areas of migration policy - citizenship, welfare services and religious diversity - and consider individual cities in their very different national contexts. Spanning Switzerland, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, the case studies display a great variety in their methodological approaches, while demonstrating the relevance of the local level whatever the differences in state structures, models of integration and centre-peripheral relations. This complex comparative exercise yields important general insights into immigration policies at work, which responsible policymakers cannot ignore. Tiziana Caponio is researcher at the University of Turin, and research associate at the Forum Internazionale ed Europeo di Ricerche sull'Immigrazione (FIERI) in Turin. Maren Borkert is research officer at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in Vienna.