The reception of asylum seekers in Italy has become an increasingly contentious issue: many actors, public and private, are involved at various levels of government, and cooperative behaviour cannot be taken for granted. The multi-level governance approach sheds light on the possible patterns in vertical relations, while it does not effectively explore the horizontal relations, which are however crucial, especially at the local level. Moreover, we argue that the definition of multilevel governance as negotiated order among public and non-public actors is too rigid and normative. Local policies of reception are instead a playing field where different actors come together with different interests, values and frames. This paper discusses the implementation of asylum seekers' reception in Italy, looking at both the multilevel and the horizontal dynamics, and it uses the concept of 'battleground' in order better to grasp the complexities of the interaction between actors. The article discloses conflicting and competing frames between different tiers of governance, since municipalities try to resist government imposition related to asylum seekers' reception in their areas. As for the horizontal dynamics, this paper argues that four possible patterns emerge in the relation between state and state actors: a) closure vs. civil society activism; b) tolerance; c) institutional activism vs. anti-immigrant mobilizations; d) cooperation. Overall, the paper aims at addressing the limits of the MLG approach by means of a conceptual tool (the "battleground") which yields a more vivid understanding of implementation dynamics.

This article contributes to the debate on the ‘local governance turn’ by considering a recent immigration context: the Italian case. We analyse integration policies and governance processes in three regions: Lombardy, Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna. The aim is to shed new light on the multi-level governance relations that shape immigrant integration policies, taking into account the interdependencies of the vertical and horizontal dimensions of multi-level governance. The analysis points out the emergence of different multi-level governance arrangements and highlights the relevance of institutional and organisational factors in accounting for local differentiation. General traditions and established public–non-governmental organisation relations in the social policy field, the internal organisation of the regional administration (specialised staff versus general bureaucratic apparatus), and the role of ideology appear to make a difference. The implications of this analysis for multi-level governance scholarship are discussed, emphasising the need for a middle-range theory approach. Points for practitioners Multi-level governance is considered by policy scholars as a promising approach to make sense of increasingly complex policymaking processes, implying the interaction between different levels of government and between public and non-public actors. By considering the politically sensitive immigrant integration issue, this article attempts to point out how multi-level governance relations concretely take shape at the regional level in Italy, and which factors account for regional differentiation. Our study suggests that contextual and organisational factors are particularly relevant, that is, social policy traditions, the regions’ internal organisation and the individual civil servants’ attitudes. Nevertheless, politics should also be carefully taken into account.

After the federal reform of 2001, Italian regions have gained greater autonomy in matters of social policy, including immigrant integration. In this paper. we assess frames of immigrant integration in eight Italian regions, i.e. Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna in the North, Umnbria, Marche and Abruzzi in the Centre, Basilicata and Calabria in the South, against EU equal treatment and mobility rights-based regime. Through a diachronic analysis of the regions' official documents on immigrants'integration approved in the period 2000-2010, we shall consider: 1) the policy priorities identified and the measures funded and 2) the implementation structures. The analysis points out how the frames of immigrants integration emerging at a regional level shape different geographies of social inclusion which are sometimes openly in contradiction with the EU discourse on equal treatment and mobility rights. Immigration is perceived more as an economic asset for local labour markets' unsatisfied demand for low-qualified, flexible, and often informal and knowledge-based European economy

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La crisi economica ha inasprito le diseguaglianze sociali, colpendo alcune categorie sociali, tra le quali i giovani: il loro tasso di disoccupazione è aumentato e gli investimenti sociali a loro dedicati sono stati ridimensionati. Se tale quadro strutturale è stato ben approfondito dalla letteratura sociologica, i contributi sulle percezioni dei giovani circa le diseguaglianze sociali sono ancora piuttosto rari. Il presente articolo analizza le narrazioni relative alle diseguaglianze sociali di giovani con diversi background, ma residenti nelle medesime municipalità (Mestre e Marghera) della Città di Venezia. Gli autori mostrano come tali narrazioni siano modellate sulla base dell'intersezione tra classe sociale, appartenenza "etnico-razziale" e nazionale, genere, età e collocazione spaziale nei quartieri dei giovani intervistati.