This book examines the nexus between City Networks, multilevel governance and migration policy. Examining several City Networks operating in the European Union and the United States of America’s multilevel political settings, it brings migration research into conversation with both policy studies and political science. One of the first comparative studies of City Networks and migration, the book argues that multilevel governance is the result of a contingent process of converging interests and views between leaders in network organisations and national governments, the latter continuing to play a key gatekeeping role on this topical issue even in the supranational EU system.

During the 2000s, the European Union has witnessed a significant change in terms of integration policies for immigrants. Countries like Sweden and the Netherlands, who were both pioneers of multicultural policies in Europe both significantly limited such policies in the late 1990s.

La città rappresenta il luogo di interazione per eccellenza tra immigrati e società di accoglienza, con i suoi esiti di integrazione o di conflitto. La ricerca sulle politiche per gli immigrati si è a lungo concentrata sul livello nazionale, con l'identificazione di diversi modelli istituzionali di inclusione nei diritti di cittadinanza. Questo libro, al contrario, parte dalle iniziative messe in atto dai governi locali in quanto attori più vicini ai problemi e alle esigenze dei cittadini. La prima parte esamina la relazione tra immigrazione, città e politiche locali in alcuni paesi europei (Gran Bretagna, Francia, Germania e Spagna), per poi focalizzarsi sul caso dell'Italia, dove i comuni hanno sempre svolto un ruolo centrale per quanto riguarda l'accesso degli stranieri a una serie di servizi. La seconda parte ricostruisce in maniera dettagliata il discorso pubblico e le politiche per gli immigrati in tre città che negli anni Novanta sono state governate da maggioranze politiche diverse: Milano, dove alla Lega Nord nel 1997 è subentrato il Polo delle libertà; Bologna, tradizionalmente di sinistra ma dove nel 1999 viene eletto un sindaco di centro-destra; e Napoli, con le giunte Bassolino allargate anche a Rifondazione comunista. L'analisi fa emergere anche la rilevanza di attori non politici, come i funzionari delle amministrazioni locali e le organizzazioni del terzo settore attive sul territorio.

Existing literature on City Networks (CNs), including studies on the migration and diversity policy field, look at CNs as instances of Multilevel Governance (MLG) policy-making. Yet, systematic research on the link between CNs and MLG is still scarce. The goal of this working paper is to understand how CNs on migration in different contexts conceive and frame their role in the governance of migration. What type of vertical and horizontal relations are CNs engaged in? And to what extent do these relationships configure the emergence of MLG-like policymaking processes? To answer these research questions, I undertake a policy frames analysis of the official discourses and main policy actions promoted by four CNs in different multilevel political settings, i.e.: the Eurocities Working Group on Migration and Integration, the European Coalition of Cities Against Racism (ECCAR) and the Intercultural Cities Programme (ICC) in Europe; Welcoming America in the United States. A key finding is that MLG, far from being an automatic outcome of city networking, is only one possible frame of policymaking interactions and not even the more relevant one.

This book provides a comparative overview of asylum seekers' reception throughout Europe by adopting a theoretical framework based on an analytical approach to the notion of multilevel governance. It challenges the tendency of the multilevel governance literature to overlook political controversies and conflicts and questions the assumption that it represents the best policymaking arrangement for promoting policy convergence. In doing so, it explores the functioning of the reception component of the Common European Asylum System in centralised states and federal/regional states and analyses its implementation at both national and local levels. The book reveals the heterogeneous development of reception policies not only across Member States but also within each country where solutions adopted at the local level generally diverge substantially. Furthermore, the overall centralization of policymaking on reception regardless the institutional structure, seems to leave little room for MLG arrangements tailored to specific localities and triggers tensions between central governments and local authorities. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of migration and asylum studies, immigration, (multilevel) global governance and more broadly to comparative politics, European studies/politics, and public policy.