Nuanced explanations of the factors underpinning the mafia’s movements across territories have recently been proposed. However, more light must be shed on the mechanisms through which mafiosi try to infiltrate the legal economy in non-traditional territories. Accordingly, this study aims to micro-found interactions and exchanges that mainly involve mafiosi, politicians and economic actors in expansion areas. Focusing on the local level, we will show how the misuse of several administrative tools generates a profitable opportunity structure for mafiosi. To this end, we present an in-depth comparative case study of three events involving the construction industry that took place in Northern Italy. The main findings show that: (i) mafiosi are skilled at smoothing social relations, enlarging and consolidating opaque networks predating their arrival; (ii) they give rise to different types of mutual exchanges and network structures.
In this article we analyse how interculturalism, intended as a new paradigm of immigrant integration policies, has been taking shape in an Italian city, i.e. Turin, in the context of the current economic crisis. We argue for the necessity of going beyond official statements on intercultural policy by undertaking a comparative analysis of policy practices in three Neighbourhood Houses (NHs, Case del quartiere), which are defined by the Municipality as open and intercultural spaces in which associations and citizens can develop activities aimed at expressing different cultural backgrounds, fostering participation and supporting social inclusion. The study shows how the three NHs pursue different approaches – social, cultural or more political – to interculturalism, somewhat reflecting the social and structural context in which the three NHs were established, as well as problem definitions and policy frames of the founding organisations.
Il paper descrive un caso studio analiticamente iscrivibile nel frame dei nested market: una cooperativa per l'avvio all'imprenditorialità agricola di rifugiati e richiedenti asilo situata nel sud Piemonte. L'area è caratterizzata dalla produzione di Moscato, un vino a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (Docg) ed è stata recentemente insignita a Patrimonio Unesco, ma presenta elementi di criticità dal punto di vista dell'integrazione economica e della coesione sociale. La cooperativa studiata intende valorizzare le risorse locali innescando modalità di produzione e circuiti di vendita alte rnativi, rispettosi della remunerazione del lavoro in tutte le fasi della filiera e dell'ambiente. La progettazione e la messa in pratica del progetto, gli attori coinvolti, i finanziamenti ricevuti e gli strumenti utilizzati sono presentati nell'articolo, mettendone in luce elementi di originalità e eventuali criticità anche al fine di discutere la loro scalabilità.
Over the past decade, asylum seekers and refugees arriving in Italy were accommodated in reception facilities located not only in large metropolitan centres but also in Small-medium Towns and Rural Areas (STRAs). Italy’s reception system evolved quickly to face the peaks of asylum applications, especially in the 2015-2017 period. At the same time, the changes in Italy’s reception policies were pushed by the increased polarisation in the asylum debate, which, in turn, has led to great heterogeneity in the development of reception practices.
This paper argues that the reception-territory nexus is a critical dimension to focus on when investigating the implications connected to the arrival and establishment of asylum seekers and refugees. This appears particularly true in STRAs where the reception system provided new resources that, when well-managed, showed transformative potential, developing virtuous interconnections with the local territories and communities. These virtuous interconnections have, however, been affected by the continuous changes in reception policies and came to a critical juncture in 2018, when the so-called Security Decree entered into force. While further modifications are currently underway, such legislation profoundly affected the Italian reception system’s functioning and working principles, creating new frictions and tensions among institutional actors and within the local governance of the reception system itself. We argue that the reform contributed to disrupting, both materially and symbolically, the previous virtuous combination of refugee inclusion and local development, especially in STRAs.
Our situated qualitative analysis – carried out between 2019 and 2020 through discursive in-depth interviews – investigates the interconnections between territory and reception in three small to medium-sized towns and rural areas before and after this regulatory shift. It does so by introducing a novel analytic framework, focusing on symbolic and material aspects within and around reception. The analysis suggests that the stress and disruptions connected to the regulatory changes have had a negative impact on the internal organisation of the reception as well as on the refugees’ inclusion and on the chances of local development.
* This article belongs to a special issue on "Refugee Migration to Europe – Challenges and Potentials for Cities and Regions".
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