Governing Migration through Multi‐Level Governance? City Networks in Europe and the United States^*

Abstract

City networks (CNs) are often enthusiastically regarded as key actors in processes of Europeanization and multi-level governance (MLG) policy-making in Europe and beyond. However, systematic research on highly contentious issues like migration is still scarce. Building on an understanding of MLG as a specific mode or instance of policy-making, in this article I seek to understand why and how CNs engage in MLG-like policy-making on a typical issue of state sovereignty. I apply the causal process-tracing method to analyse the genesis and policy actions undertaken in the last two decades by two migration CNs in different multi-level political settings: the Eurocities Working Group on Migration and Integration (WGM&I) in the EU and Welcoming America (WA) in the US. The results show that, notwithstanding the differences in the institutional settings, in both contexts instances of MLG policy-making have taken place in the shadow of the will of the national governments, which remain fundamental gate-keepers even in the EU supranational polity, where the European Commission has been particularly active in supporting migration CNs' initiatives.

Transnational City Networks on Migration and Integration and Local Collaborative Governance: Establishing the Nexus

“…Scholars consider the growth of migration and integration TCNs an expression of the decoupling of the local level from national-level politics and policies, as cities occupy new transnational spaces by teaming up (Heimann et al 2019;Flamant et al 2022). Caponio (2021) and other authors (e.g., Lacroix 2022; Lacroix and Spencer 2022) argue that migration TCNs play a central role for cities in multi-level governance in an area traditionally linked to the core of state sovereignty. TCNs question the hierarchy of power and social processes represented by national governments and help cities cope with the nation-state's failures in managing migration (Bauder 2017, c.f.…”

“…Also relevant is the special issue by Lacroix and Spencer (2022) in the journal Global Networks on TCNs' functions and practices and their contribution to migration governance. In this special issue, Caponio (2022) investigated TCNs' capacity, as formal organizations, to build coalitions with nonstate actors through the latter's participation in meetings or projects. She found that nonstate actors' inclusion in TCN coalitions is not strong, since nonstate actors tend to be subordinated to the networks' interests.…”

Multilevel governance and Smart Specialization in EU regions: an evidence-based critical review

“…Multilevel governance (MLG) can be understood as the active involvement of local innovation actors in developing or implementing policies through formal and informal mechanisms (Tödtling-Schönhofer et al 2013;Caponio 2021;Ongaro et al 2019;Moodie et al 2021). The definition of MLG put forward by Schmitter (2004) is: "arrangements for making binding decisions that involve multiple politically independent but interdependent actors -private and public -at different levels of territorial aggregation in more or less continuous negotiation/ deliberation /implementation, and that do not assign exclusive policy competence or assert a stable hierarchy of political authority to any of these levels".…”

A teoria da governança multinível aplicada à contextos de migrações forçadas

“…A teoria da governança multinível tem sido utilizada para a compreensão de diversos fenômenos complexos, como a regeneração urbana, a mitigação das mudanças climáticas e, cada vez mais, sobre a questão das migrações forçadas (CAPONIO, 2021). Isso se dá porque essa teoria engloba a participação de atores com características distintas na resolução de desafios compartilhados.…”

“…Em diversos países, autores têm se dedicado a observar a gestão do refúgio através da governança multinível (AUSLENDER, 2021;CAPONIO, 2021;GLORIUS e GASCH, 2022;CAPONIO e PONZO, 2022). Este artigo faz parte de uma pesquisa que busca compreender a formação de redes organizacionais dedicadas a migrantes forçados no Brasil e em Portugal tendo esta teoria como modelo analítico.…”