The Urban Governance of Asylum as a “Battleground”: Policies of Exclusion and Efforts of Inclusion in Italian Towns

Abstract

The article argues that the governance of immigration, especially at local level, can be considered a “battleground” involving diverse actors. Beyond the idea of a “negotiated order” as the result of the interaction among actors (mainly institutional) in the multilevel governance framework, the management of asylum at a local level is the outcome of conflict and cooperation, of alternative views and political actions, of official policies and practical help, of formal statements and informal practices. The practical governance of immigration and asylum is not only determined at an institutional level; it is also influenced by this mobilization on the part of civil society.

In order to reconstruct the dynamics of this “battleground”, the article first analyses the different attitudes of Italian municipalities to asylum seekers, and in particular the mobilization of local governments against refugees’ reception. It then shows by contrast how civil society actors mobilize either in favour of the reception of refugees and immigrants with dubious legal status or against them. Thereafter, among civil society actors, it focuses in particular on “supporters” acting on behalf of asylum seekers in various ways, for moral, political or religious reasons, and on the issue of their political engagement.

Keywords:

• Asylum
• civil society
• local policies

Notes

¹ The League (in Italian: Lega, previously “Lega Nord”, i.e. “Northern League”) was the winner of the last elections for the European Parliament in Italy (May 2019). It has taken an open anti-immigrants and anti-refugees stance. In the past it asserted the reasons of the (richer) Northern Italian regions against the central government and the (poorer) Southern regions. But in recent years it has changed its name (from Lega Nord to Lega) and assumed a nationalistic attitude, taking inspiration by the French Front National. It achieved good electoral results in local elections also in Central and Southern Italy.

² For the main features of the Italian reception system, and in particular for the distinction between SPRAR (the best option) and CAS (the emergency solution), see the following section.

³ https://www.sprar.it/i-numeri-dello-sprar, accessed on 20 December 2018.

⁴ http://www.bergamonews.it/2016/03/08/otto-profughi-arrivo-torre-boldone-sindaco-mincateno/217816/

⁵ https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/migranti-sale-protesta-sindaci-nebrodi

⁶ https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2016/10/01/migranti-sindaco-leghista-blocca-il-centro-accoglienza-delle-suore-ma-non-ha-fatto-i-conti-con-il-viminale/3067047/. Accessed on 29 December 2018.

⁷ https://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2017/02/23/news/clandestini_lega_condanna_discriminazione_profughi-158956059/. Accessed on 29 December 2018.

⁸ http://www.vita.it/it/article/2017/08/29/la-delibera-del-comune-che-si-tutela-dallinvasione-delle-popolazioni-a/144335/. Accessed on 5 January 2019.

⁹ http://www.vita.it/it/article/2017/08/29/la-delibera-del-comune-che-si-tutela-dallinvasione-delle-popolazioni-a/144335/. Accessed on 5 January 2019.

¹⁰ http://www.ansa.it/liguria/notizie/2016/08/12/ventimiglia-stop-a-cibo-non-autorizzato_1f8c7a35-78fa-435d-8ce1-b4fc1dfdb2a7.html. Accessed on 5 January 2019.

¹¹ https://genova.repubblica.it/cronaca/2017/04/23/news/ventimiglia_revocato_il_divieto_di_distribuire_cibo_ai_migranti-163684319/. Accessed on 5 January 2019.

¹² http://temi.repubblica.it/micromega-online/le-barricate-caserecce-di-gorino-e-gli-imprenditori-politici-del-razzismo/. Accessed on 5 January 2019.

¹³ https://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/ferrara/politica/elezioni-4-marzo-risultati-gorino-1.3769292. Accessed on 5 January 2019.

¹⁴ http://www.osservatoriorepressione.info/spinetoli-ap-sindaco-pd-sfila-casapound-linvasione-37-profughi/. Accessed on 10 January 2019

¹⁵ https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/17_febbraio_23/lega-condannata-discriminazione-profughi-non-sono-clandestini-949736fa-f9b1-11e6-9b43-a08eac6546a0.shtml. Accessed on 29 December 2019.

¹⁶ http://www.radiopopolareverona.com/old/?q=content/fermare-subito-la-violenza-razzista

¹⁷ At the time of writing (beginning of July 2019), the leading item of Italian news was the conflict between the Italian government and the young captain of the ship Sea Watch 3, the German Carola Rackete. What she defined as an act of humanity was considered by the government a political attack on the national sovereignty.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme - MAGYC Project [822806].