Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31297/hkju.18.2.6
Migration and Integration in German Cities
Norbert Kersting
; Professor, University of Muenster, Institute of Political Science, Chair of Local and Regional Government, Germany
Abstract
Germany has never regarded itself as a country of immigration. Nevertheless, after World War II a number of refugees settled in Germany and in the 1960s German industry attracted a large group of immigrants from Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey). Both of these groups predominantly integrated into German society. In the 1990s, during the Balkan wars, a large number of refugees came to Germany, but most of them returned home afterwards. In 2015 a new migration policy emerged. Due to the war in Syria, refugees tried to immigrate into Central Europe via the so-called Balkan Route. They were partly attracted by a symbolic but brief German “open arms” policy. In 2015 and 2016, around 1.2 million people applied for asylum in Germany. Due to the policy shift of the German government and new policies in Turkey and other countries in Eastern Europe, these numbers dropped dramatically in 2017. The paper tries to answer the question of who represents these refugees, as well as other migrants. Meanwhile, some groups with a migration background – such as citizens of the European Union – have full electoral rights at local and European
Union elections. Since the 1990s most other foreigners have been represented on advisory boards for citizens in most of the larger cities. These advisory boards are also regarded as advocates for refugees without a long-term perspective of becoming German citizens. Nevertheless, there are only three provinces (Länder) with an appropriate legal framework for these boards. The advisory boards are
accepted in all 14 analysed representative cities by both the citizens and the councillors, although acceptance is slightly lower in Eastern compared to Western Germany.
Keywords
migration; refugees; integration; Germany; political representation; deliberative democracy; democratic innovation
Hrčak ID:
201710
URI
Publication date:
19.6.2018.
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