Can community involvement policies mitigate NIMBYism and local opposition to asylum seeker centres?

Abstract

Local governments have to take authoritative decisions about the placement of controversial but necessary facilities such as Asylum Seeker Centres (ASCs). Opposition from local residents against such facilities is often considered to be an expression of NIMBYism. This article explores whether a policy of community involvement addressing the underlying reasons for local opposition can mitigate such opposition towards an ASC. It uses a mixed methods approach combining survey data and semi-structured interviews among neighbourhood residents about an ASC in Utrecht. Local opposition is associated with experiences of economic competition and cultural threat. The policy strategy did not moderate these effects. Those who became involved were a selective group of locals who were largely already accepting of the centre and its inhabitants and involvement was often incidental. However, contact between asylum seekers and neighbours developing within and beyond the ASC mediated the effect of cultural threat – confirming Allport’s contact hypothesis.

Taking risks and breaking new frontiers: introduction to the Special Issue and the cardinal challenges for policy and politics scholarship

“…It involves the study of meaning through the interpretation of language and discourse, as embedded, for example, in emotions (Durnová, 2022). It involves studies at different scales, from global policy studies and, of course, to local policy studies and their comparisons (Porto de Oliveira, 2022;McMullin et al, 2021;Dekker et al, 2021;Huang and Wiebrecht, 2021). Fundamentally, it must include studying different power relations in society, policies and politics, such as gender (Lombardo and Meier, 2022) or the intersection of various forms of oppression (Christoffersen, 2021).…”

“…Fundamentally, it must include studying different power relations in society, policies and politics, such as gender (Lombardo and Meier, 2022) or the intersection of various forms of oppression (Christoffersen, 2021). It must confront challenges in the relationship between the public and government (Moon and Cho, 2022;Dekker et al, 2021). Finally, as public policy is the fulcrum around which our politics of interest and ideas pivot, we must understand public policy design as a phenomenon in itself (Siddiki and Curley, 2022;Lewis et al, 2020;van Burren et al, 2020).…”