Any attempt to conceptualize or measure national policies in the field of migration faces the challenge of restricted comparability across states. This challenge is much less severe at the subnational comparative level, as subnational units approximate most closely a most similar cases design. The purpose of this paper is to use this benefit regarding research design characteristic to subnational comparative analyses to validate, and thus to potentially improve existent concepts of immigrant integration policy. In order to capture the varying integration policies of the 26 Swiss cantons, we draw upon an international conceptual framework. The typology of integration regimes elaborated by Koopmans et al. (2005) bases on two dimensions of citizenship, which broadly distinguish between policies regulating ‘individual equality of access’ to a host society on one hand, and the aspect of ‘cultural difference’ on the other hand. While the components and indicators along these two dimensions cover the most essential aspects of integration policy, the overarching two dimensions appear less consistent. The question arises, whether there is not a more subtle theoretical framework to capture these different policies. Thus, after transferring Koopmans conceptual framework to the subnational, cantonal level, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis. As expected, the factor analytical results reveal that the components do not stand for only two dimensions, but represent rather four factors. These factors correspond to areas of immigrant rights and obligations which are commonly identified as central in the scientific just as in the public debate on integration policy: politico-civic, socio-structural, cultural and religious. The results of this paper clearly demonstrate how an analysis of subnational policy variations, which remain largely neglected by migration scholars, might contribute to enhance the validity and thereby improve the quality of established concepts of integration regimes.
