The goal of this panel, part of a two panel proposal, is to further develop comparative perspectives on immigrant integration across states with similarities in their federalized or de-centralized responses to the arrival of migrants.  Recent literature in Europe has focused on the perception of an ‘integration crisis’, falling back on the – implicit – hypothesis of a centrality of national governments’ discourses and policies of immigrant integration. Yet pioneering work on the multilevel governance of immigrant integration has showed a much more complex picture. The concrete managing of this politically sensitive issue is carried on by different institutions placed at various levels of government, as well as by different civil society organisations. Consistency between national appraoches and immigrant integration policies taking place on the ground is far from being the rule.

The presentations in this panel intend to contribute to a deepening of the analysis of immigrant integration policy by looking at MLG relationships from a city level perspective. More specifically, the panel looks at how cities’ authorities and/or other actors in specific local contexts interact with other levels of governance on the vertical dimension of MLG and with other cities or local actors on the horizontal dimension. The aim is that of helping to further shape the study of immigrant integration in receiving societies on the two sides of the Atlantic.