Regional integration policies
While the conditions for immigration and citizenship are usually decided by national governments, immigrant integration often falls under the jurisdiction of regional governments (in the German case, the Länder). Anita Manatschal, Verena Wisthaler and Christina have edited a Special Issue that provides the first internationally comparative analysis of the political causes and effects of immigrant integration policies designed by regional governments in Europe and North America. Our editorial (open access) is available here. In another article, Christina analysed the immigrant integration laws of regions in Germany, Italy and Spain and showed that minority nationalist regions tend to adopt less inclusive integration policies, whereas left-wing regions facing right wing national governments opt to be more inclusive. You can access the data on German, Italian, and Spanish regional integration policies here.
Local integration policies
We are also reaching down to the local level, where public authorities are in direct contact with migrants. In a cooperation with the city of Konstanz we are investigating their migration council („Internationales Forum Konstanz“) and explore ways to improve its selection and decision-making process. Christina's reform proposals can be found here. They informed the final concept Konstanz International city, which can be downloaded from the project website in various languages.
Access to German citizenship
A third project investigates the causes of differences in the naturalization practices of German naturalization authorities, especially with regard to the exercise of discretion in accepting dual citizenship for non-EU citizens. In the project, quantitative analyses of the counties will be complemented by field research in several naturalization offices to find out which political, organizational, and individual factors shape official decision-making practices, and thus ultimately define who receives German citizenship under which conditions. Lisa, Sara, Tyler and Christina are working together on this project.