Introduction: integration as a three-way process approach?

Abstract

This chapter introduces the topic of this volume, which is the recent departure from viewing integration as a strictly two-way process (between migrants and the receiving society) to acknowledge the potential role that countries of origin might play in support of the integration process. It traces the origin of this change in policy perspective, reviewing the Europeanization of immigration and integration policy since the Tampere Programme (1999–2004). Indeed, a major shift in policy framing came in 2011, with the renewed European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals, which explicitly added the countries of origin as a third key actor in the process of immigrants’ integration, thereby introducing the three-way process in European policy. In addition to tracing the development of European policy on integration, it takes a step back to consider three broad and interconnected issues: (i) the way integration is conceptualized and studied in Europe; (ii) the way integration policies are studied and how the concept of integration is used in policy formulation and practice; and (iii) the way new perspectives and actors (e.g., those in countries of origin) are incorporated in analyses of integration processes and policies. It concludes by introducing the further structure of the volume.