Theorizing the ‘local turn’ in a multi-level governance framework of analysis: a case study in immigrant policies

This Special Issue seeks to contribute to the emerging trend of theorizing Multi-level Governance (MLG) (Piattoni, 2010; Stephenson, 2014) taking immigrant policies as a specific policy area. Although often applied to EU-national-state relations or to federal states, MLG can also be used a framework of analysis for relations between local, regional, national and EU governments in a broader sense. Much of the MLG literature is considering different policy areas such as environment, climate change, social cohesion, higher education, but there is a lack of analysis in the area of immigrant policies. In particular, we consider the linkages between MLG and the growing importance of local governance in the area of immigrant policies. Though often strongly framed in the context of national models of integration, recent studies direct attention to the local - mainly city - level that has become increasingly prominent and entrepreneurial in the field of migrant integration. In this respect, we will speak of a ‘local turn’ that we will attempt to make sense of from a MLG perspective.