Institutionalization of Local Integration Systems for Refugees from Ukraine. The Case of Polish Cities

For years, issues concerning foreigners, including refugees and migrants, were overlooked and ignored in mainstream public policy. Refugees have not seen Poland as an attractive place to settle or as a country for economic migration. Instead, Poland was associated with the sending rather than the receiving country, as evidenced by large-scale economic emigration, primarily to Western European countries. As a result, migration, refugee, and integration policies were not mainstream policies in Poland, nor were these issues a priority on the agenda of subsequent governments. There was even less interest in public policies aimed at foreigners at the local level. The situation has changed over the last few years due to the international situation. More than Poland itself, it is its eastern border that has become an area of interest due to the possibility of crossing the EU's external border. Poland gained even greater relevance as a host country for refugees in 2022 following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. With the influx of refugees from Ukraine seeking shelter in Poland, it became necessary to introduce legal, institutional, and societal changes. The need for change affected not only the decision-making center, with the government adopting a comprehensive migration policy document in 2024 after introducing several changes to the law, but also local governments, particularly in large cities, where refugees from Ukraine have gathered in search of shelter and employment. The planned presentation will cover only preliminary research findings. The author focuses on selected cases of Polish cities where the influx of refugees has forced the creation of local support systems for Ukrainian refugees. The study covers selected cities, taking into account their size and the ratio of refugees to inhabitants. The study aims to identify the key entities (institutions) responsible for helping, supporting, and integrating Ukrainians, and to assess the nature and scope of cooperation. The theoretical framework for the research is new institutionalism, which enables the identification of limits and gaps in refugee integration policy, and the governance approach, which allows for the study of local-level networks and cooperation patterns. The author aims answer the following research questions: 1. Who initiated and organized aid for refugees from Ukraine in the first weeks after the outbreak of war? 2. How has the nature of support for refugees from Ukraine changed over the years? 3. With whom did local authorities cooperate during the first wave of refugees' influx, and what is the situation now? 5. To what extent do the institutions established to help refugees from Ukraine also carry out integration activities? The research is qualitative in nature and is based on individual interviews with several groups of respondents: local authorities, officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and school employees. This research project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland. The project is entitled Beyond Borders: Roles of Local Government in the Long-term Integration of Ukrainian Refugees. Insights from Poland and the Czech Republic (2023/51/I/HS5/02456) and managed by Prof. K. Radzik Maruszak (UMCS). Panel: 3. Local Governments and Refugee Integration in CEE