About Whole-COMM • Whole-Comm

The project

Whole-COMM proposes an innovative whole-of-community (WoC) approach to the analysis of the integration of post-2014 migrants in small and medium-sized towns and rural areas (SMsTRA).

Building upon and reaching beyond definitions of immigrant integration as a two- or three-way process the WoC perspective conceives of integration as a process of community-making:

that takes place in specific local contexts characterised by distinct configurations of structural factors in terms of i) local economy and the labour market, ii) demographic composition and trends, and iii) levels of socio-cultural diversity and historical relations with migrant-related groups;
that is brought about by the interactions of the multiple actors – individuals, organisations, institutions and/or corporate entities – that shape the local community with their multilevel and multi-situated relations, networks, interests and resources;
whose outcomes are open-ended and can result in either more cohesive or more fragmented social relations.

In the context of the ‘European migration and refugee crisis’, between 2014 and 2015 SMsTRA in Europe have been confronted with increasing arrivals of migrants from areas of political and humanitarian crisis either spontaneously or through the operating of national redistribution policies. In this context, local communities which had been only marginally (if at all) affected by the settlement of migrants seeking asylum, are being confronted with new challenges, often adding to already complex situations characterised by austerity policies, diminishing social cohesion and political polarization. Understanding what shapes, affects or enables the integration of post-2014 migrants in SMsTRA is more crucial than ever if policies are, in the spirit of the Urban Agenda for the EU, ‘to manage integration of incoming migrants (extra-EU) and to provide a framework for their inclusion based on willingness and integration capacity of local communities’ (Pact of Amsterdam, iii)

Recently arrived migrants’ integration challenges are likely to be even more relevant in the context of the post-Covid19 crisis. Economic sectors of a vital relevance, like agriculture and food processing, and sectors hit hard by the pandemic like tourism, are characterised by both a high prevalence of migrant workers and a high territorial concentration in SMsTRA. A better understanding of migration governance and integration processes in small localities is, therefore, of utmost importance.

GENERAL Objectives

By adopting a WoC analytical lens and conducting a systematic cross-country/cross-locality and mixed-methods comparative study, Whole-COMM aims to:

Push forwards scientific knowledge and theorisation on the key dynamics and causal mechanisms that shape the relationship between immigrant integration policy and community cohesion or fragmentation;
Innovate policy debates and practices by empirically elaborating sets of innovative integration actions that do not only target migrants but engage all the relevant actors and stakeholders in the local community, to strengthen community cohesion and resilience.

SPECIFIC Objectives

Scientific Objectives

Scientific Objective 1 (SO1)

To address the gap between research focusing on local integration policy and structures of support on the one hand, and research focusing on integration as a social process taking place at the level of individual migrants’ attitudes and relations on the other, in order to advance a more realistic and sophisticated theorisation of the link between immigrant integration policies and their impact on local communities and on immigrant trajectories

Scientific Objective 2 (SO2)

To push forwards theorisation of the local dimension of migration in a) its multiple facets from policy to politics, attitudes and social relations; and in b) still under-researched local contexts, i.e. SMsTRA

Policy Objectives

Policy Objective 1 (PO1)

To provide targeted support to SMsTRA in the field of migrant integration policies through co-creation of innovative approaches

Policy Objective 2 (PO2)

To sensitize and promote reflection around the specific challenges faced by SMsTRA in integrating post-2014 migrants among policymakers and stakeholders operating at different territorial scales

Policy Objective 3 (PO3)

To explore the conditions for policy learning and transferability of policies and practices of integration of post-2014 migrants across the Atlantic

Concept

Figure 1 illustrates the overall theoretical rationale underlying the Whole-COMM proposal. Post-2014 arrivals are conceptualised as a watershed for local communities in SMsTRA, who had previously been exposed only to very limited arrivals of asylum seekers if any. We hypothesise that the activation in Time1 of multiple actors to face the new challenge will lead eventually, depending on broader contextual factors and policies from other levels of government, to the emergence of specific integration policies and measures. The everyday implementation of these policies and interaction with the structures/networks of local support and services for asylum seekers put forwards by the market and civil society will result in an overall process of community-(re)making which can lead in T2 to either more cohesive social relations and positive attitudes or to societal fragmentation and hostility.

2014/15

Migrants’ unorderly arrivals

Reception system

Time 1

Contextual factors and multilevel political dynamics

Local Community X

Integration policies

Time 2

Local Community X

Approach

Whole-COMM will take a truly cross-country/cross-locality comparative perspective, to generate new comparative knowledge on the settlement and integration paths of different types of post-2014 migrants in SMsTRA in the EU CEAS’ system and beyond.

Table 2 provides an overview of the 10 countries analysed by Whole-COMM in terms of type of post-2014 migrants, national redistribution system, limits to mobility and modes of arrival in SMsTRA.

Whole-COMM country cases

	Type of post- 2014 migrants	Redistribution system	Limits to asylum seekers’ mobility	Arrival in SMsTRA
Austria	Irregular cross-Mediterranean routes	Yes	Yes, while waiting for decision	Non-voluntary
Belgium	Irregular cross-Mediterranean routes	Yes	No	Non-voluntary
Germany	Irregular cross-Mediterranean routes	Yes	Yes, while waiting for decision	Non-voluntary
Italy	Irregular cross-Mediterranean routes	Yes	Yes, while waiting for decision	Non-voluntary
Netherlands	Irregular cross-Mediterranean routes	Yes	Yes, while waiting for decision	Non-voluntary
Poland	Visa-free migrants	No	No	Voluntary
Spain	Visa-free migrants	No	No	Voluntary
Sweden	Irregular cross-Mediterranean routes	Yes	No	Voluntary
Turkey	Middle-East and Far-East Crises	Yes	Yes	Non-voluntary
Canada	Resettlement	Yes, for Government Assisted Refugees	No	Non-voluntary for GAR (voluntary for privately sponsored refugees)

Ambition

Whole-COMM has the ambition of contributing to pushing forward the boundaries of both scientific research and policy debates on immigrant integration, therefore innovating not only in the way of conceptualising and theorising, but also of making integration policy.

Theoretical innovation

To theorise on the key dynamics and causal mechanisms that account for the emergence of community cohesion or fragmentation.
To study the link between immigrant integration policy and community cohesion assuming a truly relational and agent-based perspective.
To overcome the general and unspecified conception of local level and to generate new knowledge on the specific dynamics of SMsTRA.

Methodological innovation

Whole-COMM is innovative in designing territorial comparisons, especially with regard to two aspects:

Whole-COMM proposes an innovative, truly cross-locality research design which assumes as a reference frame a typology of localities rather than of countries.
By promoting a cross-country, trans-continental empirical comparison (Europe, Canada, Turkey) Whole-COMM aims to bridge geographical areas with different policy approaches and theoretical traditions in migration research.

Innovation in policy debates and practice

Whole-COMM aims to directly engage local stakeholders with the intention of stimulating their ownership of the project in order to increase the likelihood of real utility and exploitation of the project’s results.
Whole-COMM will complement grass-roots work with stakeholders (i.e, policy workshops in selected local communities) with their involvement in multilevel and international high-level policy dialogue (e. the PolicyCommunity-LABs and the Transatlantic PolicyCommunity-LAB).