Against this backdrop, the fields of diversity management, of migration research and of inequality have so far generally been studied in isolation from each other (de Jong 2016). Stemming from the conviction that the policy studies literature could benefit by incorporating data on inequality and on diversity management in the study of migration, this paper uses ‘Roma westward migration’ in Europe as a helpful lens to understand how the politics of marginality are produced (and reproduced) into European ethnically targeted policies.
The data used is based mainly on 32 interviews with policy-makers in charge of Roma integration policies in Italy, Spain and at the EU level. Through questioning how the ‘Roma migration’ issue is understood and framed by policy-makers, the contribution of this paper to the wider debate on complex inequality and diversity management is to analyze the issues of redistribution, recognition and representation in relation to policies explicitly aimed at Roma integration (Fraser 2003). It also opens innovative avenues in a more general way, to explore how the ‘Roma’ example might be employed in tackling the governance implications of our increasingly complex societies, and to assess its potential and limitations for integration/inclusion policies of vulnerable groups such as refugees.
