Political participation of immigrants through new urban policies in Brussels : constraints and small opportunities

Abstract

The political participation of immigrants is an important gauge of their integration into the receiving society more generally, as well as an indicator of the degree of openness of political elites towards ethnic minorities. With the restructuring of State intervention and the diffusion of civic culture, the role that immigrant associations play in shaping urban social policies has become another important form of political participation. As the Belgian city with the highest percentage of migrants and naturalized foreigners and benchmarked as multicultural by the regional government, Brussels presents a test case. Since the beginning of the nineties, new public policies including participative tools have been introduced in Brussels. However, immigrant associations are not adequately involved in these processes. Why is such little space given to migrant associations in the participative procedures of these new urban policies? The neo-institutionalist perspective will be helpful in identifying the major factors that explain the relatively low participation of immigrant associations.