Abstract
This article focuses on the relation between agenda dynamics and multi-level governance for a specific type of policy problems: intractable policy controversies. It discusses migrant integration policies in the Netherlands as a case-study, analysing problem, political and policy agendas in the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and on the national level, as well as the relation and interaction between these policy levels. The article shows that in a contested policy area like migrant integration, patterns of agenda setting often have a strongly level-specific character, leading to different policy frames and thus complicating modes of governance in multi-level setting. Precisely when the framing of policy problems itself is at stake, level-specific agenda dynamics will produce different policy frames also in multi-level policy settings. This makes multi-level governance in terms of effectively coordinating relations between policy levels to create congruence of policies between different levels a particular challenge when faced with this type of policy problems.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander, M. (2007). Cities and labour immigration: Comparing policy responses in Amsterdam, Paris, Rome and Tel Aviv. Farnham: Ashgate.
Bache, I., & Flinders, M. (2004). Themes and issues in multi-level governance. In I. Bache & M. Flinders (Eds.), Multi-level Governance (pp. 1–11). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bak Jørgensen, M. (2012). The diverging logics of integration policy making at national and city level. International Migration Review, 46(1), 244–278.
Baumgartner, F., & Jones, B. (1993). Agendas and instability in American politics. London: University of Chicago Press.
Bertossi, C. (2011). National models of integration in Europe: A comparative and critical analysis. American Behavioral Scientist, 55(12), 1561–1580.
Birkland, T. A. (2006). Lessons of disaster: Policy change after catastrophic events. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Bommes, M., & Thränhardt, D. (2010). Introduction: National paradigms of migration research. In M. Bommes & D. Thranhard (Eds.), National paradigms of migration research. Osnabruck: IMIS.
Bowen, J. (2007). A view from France on the internal complexity of national models. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 33(6), 1003–1016.
Breeman, G., Timmermans, A., Lowery, D., & Resodihardjo, S. (2008). Executive policy agenda drift in coalition governance. Boston, MA: Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.
Caponio, T., & Borkert, M. (2010). The local dimension of migration policymaking. Amsterdam: AUP.
De Zwart, F. (2005). The dilemma of recognition: Administrative categories and cultural diversity. Theory and Society, 34(2), 137–169.
Duyvendak, J., & Scholten, P. W. A. (2011). Beyond the Dutch “Multicultural model”. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 12(3), 331–348.
Entzinger, H. (2003). The rise and fall of multiculturalism: The case of the Netherlands. In C. Joppke & E. Morawska (Eds.), Toward assimilation and citizenship: Immigrants in liberal nation-states. Hampshire: Palgrave.
Favell, A. (2003). Integration nations: The nation-state and research on immigrants in Western Europe. Comparative Social Research, 22, 13–42.
Guiraudon, V. (1997). Policy change behind gilded doors: Explaining the evolution of aliens’ Rights in France, Germany and the Netherlands, 1974–94. New Haven: Harvard University Press.
Guiraudon, V. (2000). European integration and migration policy: Vertical policy-making as venue shopping. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 38(2), 251–271.
Hilgartner, S., & Bosk, C. L. (1988). The rise and fall of social problems: A public arenas model. American Journal of Sociology, 94(1), 53–78.
Hooghe, L., & Marks, G. (2001). Multi-level governance and European integration. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.
Hoppe, R. (2011). The governance of problems: Puzzling, powering and participation. Policy Pr.
John, P. (2001). Local governance in Western Europe. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Ltd.
Jones, B., & Baumgartner, F. (2005). The Politics of Attention. How Government Prioritizes Problems. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Joppke, C. (2007). Beyond national models: Civic integration policies in Europe. West European Politics, 30(1), 1–22
Joppke, C., & Morawska, E. (2003). Toward Assimilation and Citizenship: Immigrants in liberal nation-states. Hampshire: Palgrave.
Koopmans, R., Statham, P., a.o. (2005). Contested citizenship: Immigration and cultural diversity in Europe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Maussen, M. (2009). Constructing mosques: The governance of Islam in France and the Netherlands. PhD Thesis, University of Amsterdam.
Penninx, R., Kraal, K., Martiniello, M., & Vertovec, S. (2004). Citizenship in European cities: Immigrants, local politics and integration policies. Farnham: Ashgate.
Piattoni, S. (2010). The theory of multi-level governance: Conceptual, empirical, and normative challenges. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Princen, S. (2007). Agenda-setting in the European Union: A theoretical exploration and agenda for research. Journal of European Public Policy, 14(1), 21–38.
Poppelaars, C., & Scholten, P. (2008). Two Worlds Apart. The divergence of national and local immigrant policies in the Netherlands. Administration and Society, 40(4), 335–357.
Rosenau, J. N. (2004). Strong demand, huge supply: Governance in an emerging epoch. In I. Bache & M. Flinders (Eds.), Multi-level governance (pp. 31–48). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sabatier, P. A. (1986). Top-down and bottom-up approaches to implementation research: A critical analysis and suggested synthesis. Journal of Public Policy, 6(1), 21–48.
Scholten, P. (2011). Framing immigrant integration: Dutch research-policy dialogues in comparative perspective. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Schön, D. A., & Rein, M. (1994). Frame reflection: Toward the resolution of intractable policy controversies. New York: Basic Books.
Uitermark, J., & Duyvendak, W. G. J. (2008). Civilising the city: Populism and revanchist urbanism in the city of Rotterdam. Urban Studies, 45(7), 1485–1503.
Uitermark, J., Rossi, U., & Van Houtum, H. (2005). Reinventing multiculturalism: Urban citizenship and the negotiation of ethnic diversity in Amsterdam. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 29(3), 622–640.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Scholten, P.W.A. Agenda dynamics and the multi-level governance of intractable policy controversies: the case of migrant integration policies in the Netherlands. Policy Sci 46, 217–236 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-012-9170-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-012-9170-x