Mainstreaming Migrant Integration. Beyond the assimilationist turn in European policies

One of the key policy strategies associated with “the local turn”  is the mainstreaming of integration governance.  Mainstreaming means that integration policies are becoming an integral part of generic policies across a wide range of fields. As such, mainstreaming not just stresses that immigrant integration is a multifaceted topic, it also stresses that it is a pervasive issue of relevance to a broad range of policy fields. This involves aspects of policy framing, such as conveying a coherent political message on why migrant integration is important at all, as well as the organization of policies, such as establishing structures for interdepartmental coordination as well as specific training of service providers.  This paper conceptualizes mainstreaming in relation to the broader literature of polycentric governance as well as the literature on interculturalisation. The paper compares a range of mainstreaming policy practices across a number of European countries (Netherlands, UK, France).