Panel Chairs: Núria Franco-Guillén (GRITIM-Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and Verena Wisthaler (EURAC and University of Leicester) – MITE, Migration and Territory Young Researchers Network

PANEL PROPOSAL: Immigration at the sub-state level: Politics and policies.

This Panel looks at the interaction between two sources of cultural diversity within the same geographical area – the first one stemming from the presence of historical national communities/minorities/nations-without state and the second one generated by international immigration to the former’s territory.

The multiple diversity within the same geographical space involves a variety of specific challenges for sub-state actors: First, sub-state governments seek to develop and implement strategies for a viable future of the territory, which implies actively approaching the issue of integration policy and relating to the State level when it comes to issues such as naturalization and residence of their own newcomers, funding and even (trying to) negotiate on flows. Second, political parties claiming to represent the autochthonous community (Stateless Nationalist and Regionalist Parties, SNRPs) are confronted with the interests of the national minority and the necessities stemming from immigration e.g. maintaining the community language; strengthening the language competences of immigrants in the community language versus the state language. Finally, migrants find themselves confronted with a double challenge: on the one hand, they have to integrate into the local community, which is characterized by a different culture and language than the state culture, and on the other for the sake of a greater mobility and citizenship requirements they aim to integrate into the national culture.

So, what are the ‘enjeux’ when it comes to the link between sub-state territorial entities and immigration? This Panel welcomes Papers exploring this interaction from any of the following perspectives, using either a normative, qualitative or quantitative perspective and comparative or single case studies:

• Governments: Integration and cohesion policies, State and sub-state level.
• Political parties: Stateless Nationalist and Regionalist or ethnic parties.
• Citizens and migrants: the community perspective/attitude studies;

Please send a proposal for a paper (around 200 words) to verena.wisthaler@eurac.edu and nuria.franco@upf.edu by 20 December 2013