Even during pandemic times, researchers worldwide have continued to study how local authorities approach questions of migrant reception and integration. Some of these projects and their findings were presented in early February 2022 at a conference at the Villa Vigoni by Lake Como in Italy entitled “Going Local: refugees’/migrants’ integration processes at the local level”. Barbara Oomen shares her on-site impressions from the conference and talks to several participants including co-organizer Veronica Federico, Petra Bendel, Franziska Ziegler, Michela Semprebon, and Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli. The short interviews offer insights into a range of topical questions such as the merits of comparative analyses on local migration policies, the commonalities and differences between Germany and Italy, research-based algorithms to match refugees with welcoming localities, the relevance of discourses, individual agency and strategic litigation, and the policies of local authorities in Brazil.

Click on the links to learn more about Match'In, the project on algorithm-based matching systems, as well Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli's ongoing research. You can learn more about the project and findings presented by Franziska Ziegler in the recent paper "Defining and transforming local migration policies: a conceptual approach backed by evidence from Germany", Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2021).

This episode was prepared with the assistance of Sithis Yam Samnang.

While diplomacy is traditionally regarded as an activity exclusive to nation-states and their governments, cities have recently made big inroads in this area, especially as global migration governance is concerned. To learn more about this development and its theorization, Moritz Baumgärtel talks to Dr. Janina Stürner-Siovitz, a research fellow at the Friedrich-Alexander-University in Erlangen, Germany. The interview begins with a discussion on the “city migration governance paradox” to then set out what observations can be made about city diplomacy based on role theory. In doing so, it covers the different (and often not-so-different) roles that local authorities currently perform at the global stage, the issue of the representativeness of such actions, and how they are linked to the policies taken by national governments and international organizations.

For some of Janina Stürner-Siovitz's recent work, check the most recent edition of the Trialog journal and the upcoming issue of the Journal of International Affairs, as well as Petra Bendel and others, "When Mayors Make Migration Policy’: The future of city diplomacy", EPC Policy Brief June 2021.

This episode was produced with the assistance of Sithis Yim Samnang.

Whether we are talking about burqa bans, honour killings, or practices of female genital mutilation, controversies regarding cultural practices loom large not only in discussions on integration but in human rights law more generally. To discuss how delicate and complex notions of “culture” should be dealt with in courts, Moritz Baumgärtel interviews Dr. Paola Pannia, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Florence undertaking comparative research on culture, equality, and judicial reasoning. Their talk delves into the conceptual intricacies of culture, the way in which judges in Italy, the United Kingdom and the European Court of Human Rights deal with them, risks of essentialization and stigmatization, as well as the importance of balancing between human rights and cultural diversity, including in questions related to gender. This interview was conducted for a guest lecture within the international human rights law course at University College Roosevelt in Middelburg.

To read more on the topic, see Paola Pannia, "The elephant in the courtroom: a socio-legal study on how judges manage cultural diversity in criminal law cases in Italy and the UK", EUI RSCAS; 2017/58; Global Governance Programme-285.