Research–Policy Dialogues on Migrant Integration in Europe

Abstract

Abstract This chapter analyses the relationship between research and policy-making on integration. Drawing on a large, cross-country, empirical research project conducted during 2011–2014 (the DIAMINT project), the chapter considers how research and policy-making in the field of migrant integration have developed over time, and how their relationship functions under the present conditions of strong politicization of the issue in Europe. The authors propose a theoretical framework that distinguishes between three aspects of research–policy dialogues in the domain of immigrant integration: dialogue structures—including the formal and informal arrangements created for the exchange and communication of knowledge and research; knowledge utilization—the cultures and practices of knowledge utilization in policy processes; and taking the perspective of researchers, knowledge production. The chapter considers—first theoretically and then empirically—how the increasing politicization of the issue of integration in Europe can affect the various dimensions of research–policy dialogues in different countries.