The politicisation of local integration policy-making in Western European small and medium-sized towns and rural areas

This seminar is hybrid. Join us in person at The Hub, Kellogg College, or participate online via Zoom by registering here.

This seminar explores how small and medium-sized towns and rural areas in Western Europe have responded to the arrival and integration of refugees since 2014. While scholarly and policy debates on migration governance overwhelmingly focus on large cities, the majority of asylum-seekers were in fact dispersed to smaller localities, many of which had little prior experience with migration. Drawing on findings from a forthcoming book and a series of published articles (outputs of the EU-funded Whole-COMM project), the presentation examines refugee integration policymaking across 36 towns in seven European countries (rigorously selected), complemented by large-scale survey data on public attitudes in small localities across Austria, Italy, Germany and Sweden. The talk highlights two central contributions of our work. First, it shows that local integration policies in small Western European localities are often fragmented and underdeveloped. Yet, they display striking variation: some localities disengage entirely, while others design proactive inclusion strategies in education, labour market access, healthcare, and/or housing. Second, examining the causes of such observed variation, the seminar introduces a new theoretical framework that challenges the dominant view of local policymaking as pragmatic and problem-solving. Instead, it argues that local integration policymaking is shaped decisively by political constellations – specifically the political affiliation of local executives, the presence of radical right parties within local councils and multilevel party dynamics. To make this argument, besides showing (applying QCA) that political factors are the best predictor of the emergence of different local policies in small towns, we show (using a range of qualitative and quantitative methods) that such factors also powerfully shape other recognised drivers of local policymaking processes. These include: the structure and key features of local policy networks, how local actors frame refugee integration, and how they perceive public opinion (which often contrasts with evidence on residents’ attitudes).

COMPAS Seminar Series Michaelmas Term 2025

Theme: ‘Welcoming Cities: Arrival Infrastructure’

This seminar series is co-convened by the Global Exchange on Migration & Diversity, University of Oxford and DeZim, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Jacqui Broadhead, Director, Global Exchange on Migration & Diversity, University of Oxford
Nihad El-Kayed, PI DeZIM collaborative project Political (In)Equality in Post-Migrant Democracy (PoMigDem), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

The seminars will be given at 3.45pm on Thursdays, online (Weeks 3-5); online and in The Hub, Kellogg College (Weeks 6-8).

What does it mean for a place to be welcoming? Cities in particular, as sites of migration and arrival, are often a focal point for integration, and in some cases are seen as places where national-level hostility to migration might be replaced by a welcoming approach, with some cities adopting proactive policies of sanctuary or welcome. If migration governance is understood predominantly as a national government competence, then welcoming is predominantly oriented at the local level. How do these levels of government interact, and how can we know this multi-level governance of migration and welcoming?

More broadly, how does this work function in practice? Should it be best considered through an integration lens, focusing on access to the labour market, education, and social networks, or through a more spatial approach, focusing on the role of arrival infrastructure in supporting newcomer communities through social infrastructure and the built environment (Wessendorf, 2024). Is the role of the state (at the national or local level) central, or should we instead focus on grassroots urban solidarity movements that have inspired new practices in urban citizenship (Humphris, 2025).

Cities are not homogeneous spaces and are not uniformly proactive in this space, facing different challenges and levels of demographic change. How do cities understand their role in welcoming, and how do Mayors and other actors define their leadership and convening roles?

This seminar series aims to tackle these questions of welcoming, arrival, integration and inclusion in cities – from both a municipal and civic perspective. The series is co-convened by the University of Oxford in the UK and Humboldt University in Germany, allowing for a comparative lens between two countries with contrasting approaches to integration and welcoming, as well as allowing for broader global perspectives.

Please download and share the seminar series poster: Welcoming Cities Arrival Infrastructure

Attendance is free, and all are welcome.