Political Responses to Migration in Europe: Solidarity in Crisis?

Abstract

Migration and integration policies are currently among the most controversy disputed policy fields on the local, national and EU-level, defining the so-called EU refugee crisis. Despite the dispute among member states, immigrant integration is first of all the task of local actors, such as local politicians, municipal administration, NGO´s and civil society. Municipalities have been at the forefront of developing local integration policies in many European countries long before their nation-states defined themselves as “immigration” countries”. Therefore, municipalities gained competences and broadened their scope of action in integration and migration policies. Nevertheless, experiences, competences and opportunities of political participation in the field of migration and integration differ between small municipalities in rural areas, medium-sized municipalities and big metropolitan cities. In this Panel different approaches to deal with immigration and integration of asylum seekers will be discussed. Contributions address the following research questions: - How do local governments respond to the reception of asylum seekers? - Did the focus on refugees change the local approach to migration and integration policies? - What are the similarities or differences between varying types of municipalities, such as big cities, small towns and rural counties? - How can different stakeholders on local level be mobilized to develop effective integration policies? - How can municipalities use transnational municipal networks to represent their interests on EU-level? The analysis of these questions gives insights into effective responses to the refugee controversy on different governmental levels.