Public Perceptions of Integration along the Migration-Mobility Continuum
Kesi Mahendran
Introduction
Despite decades of policy and academic focus, integration remains a
contested and opaque concept. Yet in recent years with its promise of
social cohesion and shared citizenship, it has obtained a morally privileged
status in contrast to the political disenchantment now attached
to multiculturalism. This chapter presents a case study on public perceptions
of integration among migrants and nonmigrants in two cities
within the European Union, Edinburgh and Stockholm. Despite the
European Union’s guidance within its Common Basic Principles for the
Integration of Third-Country Nationals that “integration is a two-way
process of accommodation by all migrants and residents of member
states” (Council of the European Union 2004), there remains a stubborn
focus on individual migrant competencies such as language attainment,
employment, educational attainment, political participation, and
citizenship, which is at best a partial reading of the dimensions outlined
within the Brussels-led MIPEX initiative (Niessen et al. 2007). As a
result, integration debates are now influenced by a proliferation of management
information data, often coordinated by the EU.
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