Seminar: Migration governance in Polish and Hungarian cities. Local-level response in 2015 and 2022

We cordially invite you to the next anthropological seminar at our Institute. Both on-site in room 2.122 and on-line via Teams. Tuesday, June 6th at 09:30.

dr Karolina Łukasiewicz i dr Kamil Matuszczyk (OBM UW)

Migration governance in Polish and Hungarian cities. Local-level response in 2015 and 2022

Abstract:

This article aims to assess a novel form of migration governance that emerged in Central and Eastern European (CEE) cities in the post-2015 and 2022 context. Migration governance in cities (understood as managing migration by state and non-state actors at a local level), occupies a vital role in the public discourse in EU, national, and local politics, and academic debates. It mobilises a wide range of responses from state and non-state actors at supranational, national, and local levels. In light of the 2015 crisis of humanitarian protection of refugees in Europe, the crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border, and the 2022 mass forced migration from Ukraine, it is critical to understand what drives these different responses. By focusing on cities in the CEE, the article describes modes of migration governance and the role of macro-, meso-, and micro-level factors and processes shaping migration governance in the region. I will answer what are: the roles of (1) state-level factors (e.g., statehood history, migration patterns), (2) local-level factors (e.g., city migration history, local administration structure, political representation, local communities) and (3) individual-level characteristics (migrants demographics) in migration governance by state- (local administration) and non-state actors (e.g. NGOs, grassroots groups, migrant groups) in CEE cities. Finally, we will develop a model of migration governance in CEE cities.  Migration governance is analysed in four Polish and two Hungarian cities selected based on the criterion of congruence and incongruence with the national-level policies and policy responses post-2015 crisis. The methodology builds on a comparative case study design and uses qualitative data collection methods (60 IDI with local stakeholders) and computer-assisted thematic analysis. Approaching the well-established field of migration governance from a perspective of under-researched CEE cities, this article makes advancements in the field beyond the Western European and North American contexts.