Party politics across levels of governance: relational dynamics of immigrant integration policy making in Belgian cities

Whereas authors have increasingly studied immigrant integration policies across governance levels, little has been done to explore how relations between actors at different levels of governance shape immigrant integration policies. This paper examines how a relational approach can shed light on the role of party politics in shaping immigrant integration policies. We explore whether party (in)congruence between the regional and local levels can explain the convergence or divergence of policy frames in four Belgian towns. Our findings indicate that in Flanders - where migration is highly politicised - party (in)congruence plays a role in explaining the convergence and divergence of immigrant integration policy frames, while in Wallonia - where migration is little politicised - party (in)congruence cannot explain divergent policy frames. We argue that the degree of politicisation of migration might impact the extent to which party (in)congruence can explain the consistency of immigrant integration policy frames across governance levels.