Making good citizens: local authorities’ integration measures navigate national policies and local realities

ABSTRACT

Using the case of Odense (Denmark), this article explores how, in the process of devising and implementing integration measures, local authorities mitigate between the demands of national-level integration policies and the local realities. It shows that Odense's local authorities combined local resources into a variety of horizontal governance structures geared towards supporting refugees’ integration, and engaged in vertical interactions responding to local priorities. The study finds that new governance structures emerging at sub-national create opportunities for refugees and help their integration. However, inequalities between national and sub-national levels may have negative consequences for refugees’ integration outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-level governance
• Denmark
• civic integration
• refugee agency

Acknowledgements

Research for this paper was made possible by the National Center for Competence in Research, NCCR on the Move.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Since the Danish Integration Act distinguishes between refugees and reunified family members, who are subject to its requirements, and labour immigrants, who are not, this article will focus on refugees’ integration.

2 Recognised refugees in Denmark are dispersed across Danish municipalities according to a system which takes into account each municipality's resources and current non-Danish population.

3 Personal communications with public administration experts, Odense (March 2017).

4 Integration Forum. Information available online at https://www.odense.dk/politik/integration-og-mangfoldighed/integration/integrationsforum-odense, (accessed December 2017)

5 Personal communication with NGO expert, Odense (April 2017).

6 For example, the condition of non-use of public funds for most of the qualifying period includes the receiving of integration benefits, for which only refugees are eligible, resulting in de facto longer qualifying periods for refugees in comparison to labour immigrants.

7 A 60-year-old lady (U.S. citizen), recently retired, who has been living and working in Copenhagen most of her life, has been denied the permanent residence permit because her not having a family in Denmark was interpreted as lack of attachment (Copenhagen Post Online 2017). A 13-year-old girl was removed by the police from her classroom and sent for deportation after her request for family reunification was denied on account that she would not be able to ‘achieve the necessary attachment to Denmark that is required for a successful integration’ (The Local 2017). Both decisions were reversed after widespread popular outrage and media pressure.