Research on the multi-level governance of migration and migrant integration : reversed pyramids

Abstract

In this chapter we undertake a literature review of the emerging and burgeoning literature on the multi-level governance (MLG) of migration and immigrant integration policy. Since only very few studies in the migration policy field have explicitly adopted the MLG conceptual tools, we adopt a broad definition of MLG as the process of dispersion of authority away from the nation-state and across interdependent, and yet autonomous, public authorities and non-governmental organisations placed at different levels of government. We argue that existing MLG-relevant research looks like two reversed pyramids. While studies on migration policy mostly focus on the interaction in upper governmental tiers, namely between international organisations (including the EU) and the state, research on the MLG of migrant integration is mostly situated at lower tiers of government, namely between the state and the local authorities and/or regions. Beyond differences between the subfields of the MLG of migration and migrant integration, the chapter also sheds light on different research foci of North American and European research.