Abstract
City networks (CNs) are often enthusiastically regarded as key actors in processes of Europeanization and multi‐level governance (MLG) policy‐making in Europe and beyond. However, systematic research on highly contentious issues like migration is still scarce. Building on an understanding of MLG as a specific mode or instance of policy‐making, in this article I seek to understand why and how CNs engage in MLG‐like policy‐making on a typical issue of state sovereignty. I apply the causal process‐tracing method to analyse the genesis and policy actions undertaken in the last two decades by two migration CNs in different multi‐level political settings: the Eurocities Working Group on Migration and Integration (WGM&I) in the EU and Welcoming America (WA) in the US. The results show that, notwithstanding the differences in the institutional settings, in both contexts instances of MLG policy‐making have taken place in the shadow of the will of the national governments, which remain fundamental gate‐keepers even in the EU supranational polity, where the European Commission has been particularly active in supporting migration CNs' initiatives.
Highlights
In the last two decades, city networks (CNs) have started to be regarded as new actors in the governance of globalization, linking cities across nation states and with supranational governance institutions (Barber, 2013; Agranoff, 2018, p. 217)
I take an original transatlantic perspective and apply causal process-tracing to explore the factors and mechanisms accounting for the genesis and involvement in multi-level governance (MLG) policy-making of two migration CNs: the Eurocities Working Group on Migration and Integration (WGM&I) in the EU supranational system and Welcoming America (WA) in the US federal state
I have proposed an explorative analysis of the factors and mechanisms accounting for the genesis and involvement in MLG policy-making of two migration CNs – that is, the WGM&I in the EU supranational system and WA in the US federal state
Summary
In the last two decades, city networks (CNs) have started to be regarded as new actors in the governance of globalization, linking cities across nation states and with supranational governance institutions (Barber, 2013; Agranoff, 2018, p. 217). In the last two decades, city networks (CNs) have started to be regarded as new actors in the governance of globalization, linking cities across nation states and with supranational governance institutions Empirical research on the nexus between city networking and multi-level governance (MLG) on highly contentious issues like migration remains scarce. Tiziana Caponio policy-making arrangements on the contentious migration issue. Migration policy can be considered a least-likely case for MLG since states have always been reluctant to share power in this area with either local or supra-national authorities (Boswell and Geddes, 2011). An in-depth analysis of the multi-level political dynamics around migration policy appears to be of the utmost importance in order to push forward theorization on the CNs-MLG nexus and to broaden our understanding of processes of state authority reconfiguration on such a key state sovereignty issue
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