Diverse cities and good citizenship: how local governments in the Netherlands recast national integration discourse

Abstract

Western European national policies increasingly portray diversity as negative and migrants as 'others' who do not belong to the national community. This article examines how local governments articulate alternative discourses of belonging based on residents' shared membership in the civic life of the city. In a Dutch case study, the ways in which local policymakers diverge from exclusionary national narratives are examined. It is argued that discourses about urban citizenship offer opportunities for the inclusion of migrants by drawing new boundaries between 'good' citizens and those who are unwilling to participate.

Governing difference in the city: urban imaginaries and the policy practice of migrant incorporation

“…The interviewed policy actors are involved in shaping policies at the (sub)municipal level and sometimes also with organizing their implementation, but they do not deal directly with migrants themselves. A previous study (Hoekstra, 2015) showed the existence of a 'diversity' discourse in Amsterdam and an 'integration' discourse in The Hague. This paper considers where these discourses originate and how they are implemented.…”

“…Both cities have a history of formulating policies to govern this diversity. Similar to the national level these have changed significantly over the last decades (Hoekstra, 2015). There are also differences between the cities, notably in their spatial, economic, and political structure, which are based in diverging historical trajectories.…”

“…After this period, citizenship remained a policy trope, but its meaning became more normative and focused on the duties of (migrant) residents, rather than mutual encounter and recognition (Hoekstra, 2015). The policy paper 'Differing pasts, one future' warns that 'failed integration' threatens social cohesion within the city, resulting in a lack of 'feeling at home' in one's street and neighbourhood:…”

“…This paper concerns cities' role in governing (ethnic) difference through migrant policies that create locally specific signifiers of belonging (Yuval-Davis, 2007). Cities create their own narratives about migrant incorporation in urban life, which sometimes may run counter to more exclusionary discourses on migration and diversity at the national level (Ambrosini & Boccagni, 2015;Hoekstra, 2015). Although these (changing) discourses have received quite some attention in the research literature (e.g., Alexander, 2007;Caponio & Borkert, 2010;Garcia, 2006), less attention has been paid to policy practices of 'governing difference' (Uitermark, Rossi, & Van Houtum, 2005).…”

Creating active citizens? Emotional geographies of citizenship in a diverse and deprived neighbourhood

“…Governmental efforts to regulate the behaviour of their subjects are socially and geographically uneven: they target some groups and places more than others. In particular, residents of migrant background are often expected to demonstrate good citizenship qualities by being self-reliant and taking advantage of opportunities for social mobility (Hoekstra, 2015;Kofman, 2005). In this respect, Schinkel and Van Houdt (2010: 697) talk about the 'twin process' of moralization and responsibilization of citizenship to which residents of migrant background in the Netherlands are subjected, which combines a communitarian focus on their assimilation into the Dutch national culture with an emphasis on individual responsibility and participation.…”