Abstract
The multi-level governance (MLG) approach is widely used to understand the complex processes of immigration policymaking. In this literature review, we consider both (i) the vertical dimension of MLG: the local, regional, national, European, or even global level; and (ii) the horizontal dimension of MLG: the relations between public and non-public actors. While focusing on the local level, this review identifies a trend regarding, on the one hand, local processes of bordering, and local policies of inclusion on the other. Furthermore, the article reviews how civil society has responded to the arrival of refugees. It identifies how this literature pays insufficient attention to dimensions of conflict and, more specifically, to how local borders can be challenged. Moreover, it shows a lack of attention to anti-migrant responses, and to the interaction between migrants and civil society regarding immigration governance. Concluding, the paper argues for the adoption of a “battleground” perspective as a more dynamic basis for the MLG approach.
Highlights
Migration to Europe is a complex social process that European governments seek to govern at international, European, national and local levels
Moving beyond the multi-level governance (MLG) approach, this literature review focuses on studies regarding the local level in immigration governance
Even though some scholars grasp the dynamic interactions among actors and how they influence policy outcomes, we maintain that more emphasis should be given to how the horizontal dimension of MLG shapes migration governance
Summary
Critical border studies stress the proliferation of borders within countries. They highlight how contemporary capitalism produces physical and legal barriers among states, and administrative borders within countries that select among their populations.The production of local borders should be framed within wider global processes affecting several spheres of contemporary social life. Local municipalities emerge as actors that either implement European and national policies in a restrictive way or even invent regulations against migrants on their own initiative They can thereby prevent refugees and migrants from integrating into the social structures of the arrival societies. By monitoring migrants and refugees through their legal status, many local institutions — welfare agencies, municipal administrations, universities, public and private schools, health care providers, doctors, hospitals, housing agencies, banks and insurance companies — govern the everyday lives of refugees and migrants Such local state agencies and private service providers systematically check residents’ identification papers, and through these interactions local borders are produced (Lebuhn, 2013). It takes place within urban spaces through national and local policies, and through less visible and more indirect practices (i.e. within the field of local administration)
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