Transmigration: the rise of flexible migration strategies as part of superdiversity

This chapter assesses transmigration. Within the fields of migration studies and superdiversity, transmigration and its impact on social policy are still underexplored. Yet, the rising number of transmigrants within Europe — from outside the EU as well as intra-EU-mobility — does not only challenge ideas of belonging and integration, but also existing concepts of governance and social policy. By foregrounding the cases of Brazilian, Ghanaian, and Moroccan transmigrants residing in Belgium in 2014–15, the chapter contributes to a scientific debate regarding these topics. It presents the results of a research project in the two main superdiverse Belgian cities (Brussels and Antwerp), focusing on the social problems and vulnerabilities that relate to transmigration and its inherent temporality and the way that these are experienced and addressed by social workers in superdiverse urban areas within policy frameworks that often do not (yet) recognise the changing context.

Superdiversity and sub-national autonomous regions: perspectives from the South Tyrolean case

This chapter discusses whether the policies aimed at protecting the historical traditional minorities in South Tyrol help or hinder the creation of a tolerant and pluralistic society, and enable a defensive approach so far adopted by the South Tyrol authorities towards migration and the cultural diversity of migrants and their families. It relies primarily on the analysis of legal and policy documents, and judgments of national and international courts as well previous literature and empirical studies on South Tyrol. The chapter focuses on the competences of the South Tyrolean authorities and the measures introduced by them as regards integration and inclusion. It also looks at several recent rulings, concerning the Province of Bozen/Bolzano, by the Italian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice. The chapter concludes with observations on how to develop a defensible framework for the management of new and more complex forms of diversity at the subnational autonomous level in, but also beyond, the South Tyrolean case that reconciles unity and diversity and that overcomes, at the same time, the traditional 'old–new' minority dichotomy.

Making the most of superdiversity: notes on the potential of a new approach

This chapter begins by problematising the relationship between identity and difference as a way to rethink the dimensions and fluidity that superdiversity consists of. It provides a brief background of the debate on the death (or serious illness, or rebranding) of multiculturalism. The chapter then locates the specificities of superdiversity. It suggests the adoption of a superdiversity approach in the drafting of guidelines on diversity management such as the Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration Policy in the European Union (Council of the European Union, 2004) and the Action Plan on the Integration of Third Country Nationals (European Commission, 2016). The Roma minority(ies) in Europe serves as a useful case study to exemplify how superdiversity can help us depart from the dominance of ethnicity as the main category for identity policy without negating its relevance, in order to encourage the development of inclusive policies towards minority groups and neighbourhoods that take into account multiple variables.

Mainstreaming in response to superdiversity? The governance of migration-related diversity in France, the UK and the Netherlands

This chapter examines whether, and if so, how and why, governance mainstreaming forms a suitable policy response to situations of superdiversity. The concept of governance refers to problem-solving strategies that are developed and implemented in complex networks of actors, including but certainly not limited to government institutions and government policies. The concept of governance mainstreaming has been developed more broadly in other areas such as gender, disability, and environmental governance. Building from this literature, the chapter defines mainstreaming of migration-related diversity as the effort to embed diversity in a generic approach across policy areas as well as policy levels, to establish a whole-society approach to diversity rather than an approach to specific migrant groups, in complex actor networks. The chapter then analyses patterns in the policy approaches to immigrant integration in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and France from the conceptual lens of governance mainstreaming, and considers how and why mainstreaming was developed as a governance strategy, and what role superdiversity played in the rationale for and the choice of strategy towards mainstreaming.