Abstract
AbstractThis article tests an often‐stated assumption in the “machinery of government” literature: that government parties’ issue and policy preferences affect the ministerial structure. Using a new Dataset on Immigrant Integration Governance (DIIG) that documents the ministerial structure of immigrant integration in 16 Western European countries during 1997–2017, the analysis finds that divergence and change characterize the ministerial structure. The analysis finds that right‐oriented governments are more inclined to couple integration with immigration and justice than are left‐oriented governments, indicating different policy preferences. However, it does not find that governments with radical parties are more inclined to signal “integration” in ministerial titles. The study's comparative approach challenges the generalizability of existing knowledge on drivers of ministerial changes. Additionally, it fills a gap in current immigrant integration literature: the study of the horizontal governance structure.
Highlights
The horizontal organization and reorganization of an issue matter; different organizational structures produce different policy outcomes
The analysis found that only a few countries had stable structures for the integration issue, stronger traits of stability could be expected for less salient and wicked issues, because government parties might be less inclined to use the ministerial structure—the top level of bureaucracy—as a way to signal and prioritize issue and policy preferences
That government parties’ issue preferences and policy preferences could affect the horizontal ministerial structure has been an often-stated, but yet unexplored, assumption in the literature on “machinery of government changes.”. This study investigated this assumption by analyzing whether and how issue and policy preferences might explain longitudinal and crossnational traits in the ministerial structure of immigrant integration in 16 Western European countries
Summary
The horizontal organization and reorganization of an issue matter; different organizational structures produce different policy outcomes. Studies documenting political parties’ issue ownership and positions on immigrant integration policies make it possible to derive hypotheses on how different (coalition) governments might manifest these positions in the ministerial structure.
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