The Role of Local Government in Refugee Integration: a Comparative Study of Municipalities in the Czech Republic and Poland

Research problem. In the aftermath of four years of war and persistent uncertainty in Ukraine, people who have arrived from that country, both prior to and following 2022, are confronted with critical life decisions, including the choice to remain in place, to return to Ukraine, or to seek new residences elsewhere. The present study addresses the issue of the integration of refugees and migrants from Ukraine who are currently residing in Poland and the Czech Republic with the prospect of remaining in these countries. Both countries are among those that have accepted the largest number of Ukrainian refugees in the CEE region: Poland in absolute terms, and the Czech Republic in terms of refugees per capita (https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine). Although the two countries differ in terms of their geographic location in relation to the conflict in Ukraine and their size and population, they have many characteristics in common when it comes to the refugee/migration question. Firstly, although the national authorities in both countries were aware of the impending war, neither made any preparations for it. Secondly, neither country has a migration policy that allows for the swift determination of actions aimed at accepting and integrating third-country nationals. Both countries also maintained a strong anti-migration stance during the 2015 migration crisis. Thirdly, in both countries, the migration crisis in the first weeks was met with an extraordinary response from local governments, NGOs, and ordinary people. This study aims to examine the role of local authorities in integrating refugees into the societies of the two CEE countries. While research on this issue has already been conducted in relation to individual CEE states, this study responds to a gap in the literature on comparative research on the integration of migrants. The research is grounded in the theoretical framework of institutional theory, the concept of multilevel governance (MLG), and role theory. The first serves to explain the behaviour of public actors and the relationships between them, while the MLG approach explains the relationships between state and non-state actors. Role theory explains the behaviour of local government officials when faced with discrepancies between legal rules, political expectations and the need to manage an emergency situation. The research method is based on desk research and case studies. Sources of information included statistical datasets from local and national authorities, national legislation and official documents, local government websites and relevant academic literature. The cases selected for comparison are medium-sized municipalities. In-depth interviews based on the same semi-structured scenario were conducted in Czech and Polish municipalities with local authority and administrative representatives, as well as representatives of public institutions, NGOs, and Ukrainian citizens living there permanently. The interview transcripts were then subjected to qualitative analysis. The authors of the study intend to draw conclusions that highlight the similarities and differences in the catalogue and the manner in which roles are performed by local government in both countries. Furthermore, the conditions that determine the performance of local government roles will be addressed.