Decentralising integration policies: managing migration in cities, regions and localities

As cities and regions across Europe struggle to manage the integration challenges posed by immigration, a growing number of people are looking to decentralisation for answers. This paper argues that increasing the financial and decision-making power of local authorities is a necessary precondition for formulating and implementing successful integration policies, but it is not a panacea. The paper draws on the findings of two large-scale European projects on local integration policies to identify the strategic and tactical advantages which local authorities enjoy over national governments in the field of integration. It warns, however, that if decentralisation is to work for the benefit of integration and avoid a "race to the bottom" in the delivery of public services, the transfer of competences from central to local authorities must take place in a carefully calibrated system of multi-level governance. The paper provides a framework for thinking about decentralisation and its implications at different levels of governance taking into account the
varied ideological and institutional settings which prevail across Europe.