This study examines three theses on local integration policies by a qualitative comparative case study of integration policies in three cities in three different countries (Berlin, Malmö, and Rotterdam). We found little evidence of a congruent local dimension of integration policies. Local policies resemble their national policy frameworks fairly well in terms of policy approaches and domains. Our multi‐level perspective shows that this is not the result of top‐down hierarchical governance, but rather of a multilevel dynamic of two‐way interaction. Local policy legacies and local politics matter and national policies are also influenced by local approaches of integration.

There is a growing interest in the research community in the local governance of migration and integration. Studies indicate a local turn in integration policies, with local governments becoming important integration policy actors. Unlike most research, this study of recent developments in the policies for migrant newcomers in Denmark and Sweden observes a national turn in local integration policy. Despite their different integration policies, the central governments of both countries have increased their control and influence at the local level and thereby made it more difficult for local governments to formulate their own integration policies. This study highlights the need to complement earlier research based on frame analysis with an analytical framework that takes central government steering and the uneven power relationship between the levels of government into account.Keywords: Local integration policy; Multi-level governance; Integration policy; Sweden; Denmark; National integration models Analyzing local integration policy-the settingThere is a growing interest in the research community in the local aspects of integration and migration (Alexander, 2007;Caponio and Borkert, 2010). The local dimension of integration policy is also acknowledged at the European level, where more efforts are being made to promote knowledge exchanges between cities, for example the CLIP project and the EuroCities network. Criticism of methodological nationalism (Wimmer and Glick-Schiller, 2003) seems to have fuelled a desire to go beyond an analysis of integration policies at the national level. Instead of studying national models of integration, the focus has been on understanding whether and how national policies are implemented at the local level and whether municipalities are formulating policies of their own. Most of these studies indicate a local turn of integration policy and that local governments have increased their significance as integration policy actors (Alexander, 2007;Penninx, Kraal, Martiniello and Vertovec, 2004;Penninx, 2009;Caponio and Borkert, 2010;Schmidtke, 2014). Many of the studies of local integration policies have a multi-level governance perspective. Their main focus is on the relations between national and local integration policies, especially the congruencies and incongruences between local and national policies and between local policies in different cities

Human capital has been long an exceedingly important concept in migration research. Over time there have been attempts to provide more nuanced, and less economistic interpretations of human capital. Based on outputs from the EU Horizon 2020 project YMOBILITY (2015-2018) and two additional papers, this Special Issue seeks to advance this agenda further by addressing the complexities of the mobility of human capital. Migration problematises human capital assumptions due to challenges in transferring human capital across national borders. In this introductory paper we propose rethinking the human capital of migrants in a threefold way. Firstly, we question the interpretation of skills and competences beyond the conventional divide of 'higher-skilled' and 'lower-skilled' through the concept of a 'knowledgeable migrant'. Secondly, we probe deeper into an understanding of the transferability of skills in relation to 'location', exploring the possibilities and constraints to the transfer of human capital in different spatial contexts. Thirdly, we theorise human capital in terms of new temporalities of migration and the role these play in skill acquisition. We illustrate our novel theoretical thinking with selected empirical data, both quantitative and qualitative, on youth mobility in Europe.

According to the policy-making literature, external shocks are one of the most important pre-requisites for major policy changes. This article investigates how the refugee crisis affected Swedish political parties' asylum and family migration policy preferences. The results indicate that the refugee crisis contributed to the breaking up of a long-established policy paradigm of openness and equal rights previously shared by most parties in parliament. A more fragmented party system has emerged where a new paradigm of controlling numbers has also found strong support outside the anti-immigration party the Sweden Democrats.

In 2008, the Swedish government liberalised the labour migration policy to a demand driven model without labour market tests. This article analyses the effects of the policy change on the labour migration inflow. The migrants consist of three major categories including those moving to: skilled jobs as computer specialists and engineers, low-skilled jobs in the private service sector and seasonal work in the berry picking industry. The article shows that the new model has produced a labour migration inflow that is better explained by the access of employers and migrants to transnational networks rather than actual demand for labour