Hosts and Strangers, Now and then. Historical Immigration Experiences, Contemporary Integration Policies, and the Causal Power of Ideas

The paper presents a book project that studies the ideational impact of historical immigration experiences on contemporary policy choices in the area of immigrant integration. I theorize and trace two ideational mechanisms accounting for how distant experiences can affect present policy choices: a mechanism of elite framing in political discourse (ideas as frames in communication), and a mechanism of institutionalisation in formal structure and day-to-day routines of administrative organisation (ideas as institutional sediments). Empirically, the book compares two minority regions – South Tyrol in Italy and Catalonia in Spain – that share many structural and institutional parameters yet respond very differently to immigration. South Tyrolean elites frame immigration as a threat to the German-speaking minority and restrict immigrants’ access to social benefits. Catalan elites emphasise the opportunities of immigration, granting social rights to “new Catalans” on equal terms. Tracing the development of political discourse on and administrative organisation of immigration over time, I show how historical experiences with the arrival of internal migrants in the first half of the 20^th century continue to define each region’s approach to immigration until the present day. By laying open the ideational micro-foundations of policy choice, I truly explain, rather than describe continuity in the content of policies within, as well as genuine differences in policy content between the two regions.