Immigrant integration policymaking in Italy: Regional policies in a multilevel governance perspective

Since the late 1990s, the regions in Italy have played a pivotal role in the immigrant integration policy, reinforced in 2001 because of the approval of federal reform assigning to the regions full autonomy on matters of social policy, immigrants’ integration included. Notwithstanding this crucial position, during the 2000s Italian regions have faced considerable cuts to their social policy budget, as well as pressures from the national government to accommodate in their immigrant integration policy issues of civic integration and Italian language learning, regarded as priorities in the EU context. This paper analyses how these new constraints and requirements have been confronted in regional policy-making processes, which characterise for the closeness with local administrations and civil society organisations, i.e. the actors charged with the implementation of regional policy programmes. Five regions in different areas of the country will be considered: Piedmont and Lombardy in the North-West; Emilia-Romagna in the North-East; Tuscany in the Centre; and Apulia in the South. The main objective is that of highlighting the emerging of different regional policy styles and systems of governance of immigrant integration, even in a context of increasing pressures towards convergence on civic integration policy priorities.