Open and Closed Doors: Local Responses to the Refugee Policy Crisis in Austria

In 2015 Austria was among the European countries with the largest asylum arrivals per capita. When the multi-level reception regime almost collapsed and administrative coordination failed, some municipalities protested against asylum seekers’ facilities, others engaged with emergency help and support for the wellbeing and inclusion of asylum seekers. This chapter deals with local responses to the events of 2015, covering both administrative activities and social practices. It combines an institutional, macro-level perspective on arrangements and frameworks with a micro-level, social perspective on acts of support or resistance by (groups of) individuals. Based on scholarly literature, official documents and media reports, the chapter presents ambivalent results concerning the local turn in migration governance: In terms of legal powers on admission, municipalities lose in importance; in terms of support and inclusion, they gain in importance, not least because of the exclusionary stance of the national government on asylum and reduced public funding for integration facilitators.