Mainstreaming versus alienation: conceptualising the role of complexity in migration and diversity policymaking

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of the four manifestations of alienation in policy dynamics.

Alienation	Problem alienation	Estrangement of policymaking from complex problem developments, involving meaninglessness and simplifications or denials of complexity
	Institutional alienation	Estrangement from complexification driven by the internal logic of institutions (path-dependency) or lack of institutional connections (decoupling), leading to failures in keeping up with complexification (normlessness)
	Political alienation	Estrangement from complexification driven by structural inequalities and conflict, leading to interest-driven and selective reductions of complexity, which further reproduces inequalities
	Social alienation	Estrangement from complexification driven by discourses about specific groups or actors, bringing about selective exclusion of some and inclusion of others

Table 2. Summary of main characteristics of mainstreaming.

Mainstreaming	Integral approach to a complex problem situation	A shift from a problem-specific approach to a cross-sectoral and multi-level approach that embeds a policy issue into mainstream (generic) policies, institutions and structures
	A process rather than a solution	Mainstreaming as a process rather than a specific policy outcome or model, which can take different shapes in different situational and temporal settings (no one size fits all)
	Complex actor networks	A shift from a state-centric approach to a mainstream approach that involves complex actor networks (including but not limited to governments)
	A whole society approach	A shift from a targeted or group-specific approach to a whole society approach

Table

Conceptualization of complexity and migration/diversity policy Dimension of policy dynamics	Mainstreaming	Alienation	Reflexive research-policy dialogues
Knowledge	An integral approach to a complex problem situation	Problem alienation as alienation from a complex problem situation	Systematic knowledge accumulation and theory building enabling a conversation with the problem situation
Institutions	An emergent process rather than a policy solution	Institutional alienation as a failure of institutions to accommodate complexity	Reflexive dialogues
Power	Involving complex actor networks	Political alienation as interest-driven and biased complexity reductions or denials	Reflexive knowledge production
Discourses	Oriented at the whole society	Social alienation as selective inclusion or exclusion of groups	Academic mainstreaming (or ‘de-migranticization’)