Wednesday, June 26, 2013
2.21 (Binnengasthuis)
The governance of complex social problems like migrant integration often involves multiple levels of government. This article adopts an agenda setting perspective on governance in multi-level settings. The literature of agenda setting argues that patterns of agenda dynamics will affect how policy problems are framed , on the national as well as the local level Studying agenda dynamics in multi-level settings will reveal whether processes of problem definition, political factors and institutional policy developments converge or diverge, thus promoting or obstructing effective multi-level governance. This article addresses the question of when, how and why migrant integration emerged on national and local policy agendas, what policy frames were constructed on these levels, and whether this involved divergence or convergence between these policy levels. Comparing the British case, a devolved state, and the Dutch case, a unitary state, allows for a more systematic analysis of under what conditions effective multi-level governance has or has not been achieved. On the local level, in each country two cities will be examined, which are known to vary in terms of there migrant integration policies. In the Netherlands, this involves Rotterdam and Amsterdam, not just the two major Dutch cities but also two cities with very different approaches to migrant integration. In the UK, the focus will be on London and Glasgow, an English and a Scottish city with different policy approaches.
