Between Governance Mainstreaming and Alienation

Abstract

This chapter has developed mainstreaming and alienation as the two central conceptual and theoretical lenses on the governance of migration and diversity. Referring more broadly to the literature on complex policy problems, the key theoretical argument is that complex problems require complex solutions that are embedded as much as possible in an integral (cross-sectoral) approach. This is reflected in the concept of mainstreaming, which refers to the embedding of governance into generic policy areas and the targeting of the whole population. Such a mainstreamed approach, as argued in this chapter, allows not only for the type of ‘messy solutions’ that complex problems require, but also allows for flexibility regarding local problem circumstances and policy preferences: there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy model associated with mainstreaming. Instead, it involves a governance strategy that embeds migration and diversity governance into mainstream governance and politics, rather than singling it out as a stand-alone topic, thereby reducing its complexities.However, as hypothesized throughout this book, precisely because of the complexities of migration and diversity governance, there are many factors that may prevent such governance mainstreaming. Elaborating on Schneider and Ingram’s approach to ‘degenerative policy designs’, I will refer to various forms of alienation in reference to how complex policy problems may involve various structural factors (knowledge, power, ideas, institutions) that prevent mainstreaming from occurring. In this regard, I distinguish between problem alienation, social alienation, political alienation and institutional alienation.