The Effects of Institutional Change on Austrian Integration Policy and the Contexts that Matter

Abstract

In the literature on public administration and policymaking, institutions are considered important as they shape collective regulation and public policies (March & Olsen, 1993; Peters, 2012). While a growing body of literature is available on the reasons and forms of institutional change (Koning, 2015; Mahoney & Thelen, 2010; Rocco & Thurston, 2014; Streek & Thelen, 2005; see also Bakir & Jarvis in this volume), less research has been done on the influence of institutional change on policy change. We have little knowledge of whether and how institutional reform can instigate changes in policymaking and the policy outputs produced. The literature on institutionalism generally focuses on established areas (economy, finance, foreign affairs, social affairs, etc.) and neglects emerging policy areas, especially emerging policy areas of low status within the architecture of government and public administration. This chapter contributes to filling this gap and focuses on the potential and impact of institutional reform on public policy in an area of steadily growing relevance, that of immigrant integration. It utilizes the introduction of an executive actor in the Austrian government, the State Secretary for Integration (SSI), as a case study to respond to two research questions: What forms of public policy change are stimulated by a new executive actor in the novel policy area of migrant integration? How can these policy changes (or the lack thereof) be explained by the contexts and facilitating conditions in which the new executive actor is embedded?