Research-policy dialogues in a recent immigration country: the case of Italy

Existing studies on policymaking on migration issues in Italy assign either marginal or variable relevance to expert knowledge. In a recent history of Italian immigration policies (Einaudi 2007), the role of academic experts emerges as marginal compared to the centrality of political actors, in particular the Ministers responsible for immigration issues and the parties’ political leaders. However, according to another reconstruction carried out by Zincone (2011), centre-left governments have shown a greater inclination to rely upon independent experts and top-level civil servants than centre-right politicians, who show a greater trust in internal party staff. A party’s political ideology, in particular the left-wing pro-immigrant and right-wing anti-immigrant positions, seems to have some influence on processes of institutionalisation and deinstitutionalisation in research-policy dialogues. This chapter intends to develop further these insights through a systematic analysis of knowledge production, policy-research dialogue structures, and the uses of knowledge in the migrant integration policy field.