Peer-reviewed journal articles

Authors
Christiane Heimann , Danielle Gluns, Hannes Schammann

Abstract
Making use of qualitative data from case studies on two of the most important city networks in the field of migration and diversity in Germany, this contribution aims to deepen the understanding of city networks and their modes of operation. Based on a literature review covering the characteristics of city networks we propose an analytical framework that distinguishes between the dimensions of internal and external representation. This framework enables the analysis of the two cases: Deutscher Städtetag (Association of German Cities) and Kommunaler Qualitätszirkel zur Integrationspolitik (Municipal Quality Circle on Integration Policy). While the former is an umbrella organisation of larger cities, the latter can be described as an informal network of likeminded municipalities in the field of migration and diversity. In order to shed light on the interplay of structure, strategies and issues addressed by these networks (in the field of migration), we draw on the analysis of various documents as well as participant observation and face-to-face interviews. Concluding, we critically discuss the conventional characteristics of city networks and develop assumptions on how a network’s structure influences its outreach strategies.

Link
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03003930.2021.1964476?tab=permissions&scroll=top

Authors
Hannes Schammann, Danielle Gluns, Christiane Heimann, Sandra Müller, Tobias Wittchen, Christin Younso, Franziska Ziegler

Abstract
What are the factors that drive municipalities to become active in the field of migration and migration-related diversity? Based on qualitative data from 126 German municipalities, this article proposes a new conceptual framework that allows for larger-scale comparisons and enables theory building on policy (in)activity at the local level. Setting the scene, the article discusses various theoretical approaches and empirical findings from the literature by using a heuristic of four categories of factors: institutional framework (e.g. competencies, discretionary spaces, multilevel governance), structural conditions (e.g. urbanity/rurality, socioeconomic conditions); local discourses (i.e. narratives creating a local space of possibilities), and local key actors (e.g. mayors, street-level bureaucrats). Empirically assessing the relative importance of these factors, the article focusses on local integration plans. In the German context, a municipality usually establishes an integration plan to actively control the outcome of integration processes, e.g. by orchestrating local stakeholders or allocating resources. Thus, the development of an integration plan can be used as a proxy for a municipality’s appetite to strategically engage with migration and migration-related diversity. As a result, the article proposes the ‘ISDA framework of local migration policymaking’, which distinguishes between ‘defining factors’ (institutional framework, structural conditions) and ‘transformative factors’ (discourses, actors).

Link
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2021.1902792

Authors
Christiane Heimann, Luca Civale, Helen Gloy

Abstract
Hohe mediale und politische Aufmerksamkeit erhielt die Zuwanderung von Asylsuchenden im Jahr 2015 in zahlreichen Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Union, insbesondere auch in Deutschland. Seitdem ist das Politikfeld Migration und Integration in der EU und den Mitgliedsstaaten zur Zerreißprobe geworden. In unserem Beitrag werden Hintergründe, Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze aufgegriffen.

Authors
Heimann, Christiane; Müller, Sandra; Schammann, Hannes; Stürner, Janina

Abstract
In the context of the so-called refugee crisis, political disputes about solidarity become a central issue with member states applying competing concepts. At the same time, European cities use transnational networks to implement a new form of solidarity among municipalities via city diplomacy (Acuto, Morissette, & Tsouros, 2017). Analyzing the deadlock between member states and the emerging activities of cities, we scrutinize the limits of existing approaches to political solidarity (e.g., Agustín & Jørgensen, 2019; Knodt, Tews, & Piefer, 2014; Sangiovanni, 2013) to explain this phenomenon. Based on expert interviews and document analysis from a study on transnational municipal networks, we identify an emerging concept of solidarity that challenges the nation states as core providers of solidarity from within: transmunicipal solidarity focuses on joint action of local governments to scale out and scale up.

Link
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/1994

Authors
Janina Stürner, Bendel, Petra

Abstract
‘We need to be part of U.N. decision-making if international agreements are to be responsive to on-the-ground realities’ (McCarthy 2017). Following the US government decision to withdraw from negotiating a ‘Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration’, local authorities such as the New York City Mayor’s Office joined forces with cities worldwide to demand a voice in international migration governance. We claim that this case illustrates an emerging strategy in city diplomacy – the two-way ‘glocalisation’ of human rights. Adopting this approach, cities localise international and European human rights law through local implementation. However, in the absence of national engagement at the international level or in the face of a negotiation deadlock, as in the current European migration and asylum debate, a window of opportunity is opening up for cities to go a step further: Cities retranslate local practices into global human rights discourses thus developing international agency to achieve three goals. 1) Cities create soft law to ensure local reception and integration
policies grounded in fundamental international and European rights. 2) Through networks such as ‘EUROCITIES’ or the ‘Global Mayoral Forum’ cities lend legitimacy to EU and UN strategies and advocate rights-based migration governance holding EU and UN institutions and member states accountable by their own laws and values. 3) Based on their expertise as implementers and policy innovators, cities push for a place at the international and European negotiation tables. In this article, we present initial findings of our research on the role and activities of transnational municipal networks in the development of migration governance. We outline and illustrate cities’ glocalisation strategies with examples from the international and European context. The article concludes with concrete recommendations to the international, European, national and local level on how to incorporate cities’ transnational engagement in intergovernmental processes for truly coherent and rights-based migration governance.

Link
https://phrg.padovauniversitypress.it/system/files/papers/PHRG-2019-2-3.pdf