From different paths to a similar road? Understanding the convergence of subnational immigrant integration policies in Belgium

ABSTRACT

In Belgium, subnational levels are responsible for immigrant integration and have developed their own policies. Historically, francophone and Flemish political elites have taken opposing views on immigrant integration policy. However, regional policies have recently converged towards Flanders’ model, which involves a strong focus on compulsory civic integration. To understand this convergence and Wallonia’s utter shift, this paper investigates two hypotheses: politicization and policy learning. Building on Walloon parliamentary debates between 2004 and 2016, it argues that multilevel policy learning was critical in altering the debate on immigration integration towards a mandatory policy. Nevertheless, politicization of the issue, which has occurred as of 2009, constitutes both a necessary condition and a mutual reinforcement process for policy learning in Wallonia.

KEYWORDS:

• immigrant integration
• Belgium
• policy convergence
• mandatory civic integration
• Wallonia
• policy learning

JEL:

• R
• R2
• R23
• Y
• Y1
• Z18

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author thanks the editors of this special issue for comments and guidance, as well as the four anonymous referees who offered helpful suggestions throughout the internal and external review processes. The author is also grateful to Sidney Leclercq, Christina Zuber and Mireille Paquet for help.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The competency for the ‘reception and integration of immigrants’ has been transferred several times (Adam, 2013a): to the regions in 1974, to the communities in 1980, and an asymmetrical transfer from the French Community to both the Walloon Region and the French Community Commission (FCC) in 1993.

2. As of 2016, the FCC also organizes a French-language reception programme for newcomers in Brussels, based on a decree passed in 2013 (Xhardez, 2016). The policy is not yet mandatory, but a provisional intergovernmental agreement foresees that it will become mandatory in 2020. However, Brussels’ dual civic integration is a complex story that goes beyond the scope of this paper.

3. Regions with a distinct history of statehood and/or a distinct cultural and linguistic identity (Hooghe et al., 2016; see also the introduction to this special issue).

4. Documents and quotations are referenced in brackets in the main text. Each reference includes the following elements: [number, political party, year]. The asterisk (*) indicates that the quotation comes from the minister in charge of immigrant integration.

5. The Francophone actor was the ‘Ciré’ (coordination and initiatives for refugees and foreigners). The Flemish actor was the ‘bon’, which was the office in charge of implementing the Flemish civic integration policy in Brussels.

Additional information

Funding

The author is thankful for funding received through a research fellowship (October 2014–January 2019) from the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) as well as the granting of a visiting scheme (2018): OxPo from Sciences Po Paris and Oxford University.