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Symbolic Laws, Street-Level Actors: Everyday Bordering in Dutch Participation Declaration Workshops

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Migration, Borders and Citizenship

Part of the book series: Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship ((MDC))

Abstract

This chapter considers the ‘local turn’ in the governance of migration and the politics of bordering by focusing on Participation Declaration workshops in the Netherlands. This country has long been a forerunner in using civic integration as a means of in- and exclusion, and recently obliged certain groups of newcomers to sign a Declaration stating that they know and will respect the ‘values and rules’ of Dutch society. In investigating how local authorities differ in their interpretation of this deeply symbolic law, the article analyses: (1) the governance assemblage responsible for local workshops; (2) the key role of street-level actors and their personal backgrounds in shaping them; and (3) how street-level actors use the workshops to convey pragmatic over more principled and value-laden understandings of citizenship.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Participatieverklaring (Participation Declaration), Annex 7 to the Regeling Inburgering (Integration Regulation) (Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 2018).

  2. 2.

    The obligation falls upon everyone who wishes to stay in the Netherlands for a longer period of time, with the exception of European Union en Turkish nationals, members of the European Economic Community. Wet Inburgering (Law on Integration), Besluit Inburgering (Integration Directive), Regeling Inburgering (Integration Regulation). See also https://www.duo.nl/zakelijk/inburgeren/participatieverklaring/over-de-participatieverklaring.jsp.

  3. 3.

    The full text can be found here https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jo_pdf.do?id=JORFTEXT000032824019.

  4. 4.

    The Declaration can be found at http://www.uim.dk/filer/integration/integrationskontrakt-og-integrationserklaering/integrationserklaering-engelsk.pdf.

  5. 5.

    See, for instance, the decision of 26 June 2017 to amend the Integration Decision etc., p. 17 (in Dutch).

  6. 6.

    See, for instance, the contribution of the IOT (the Platform for Turks in the Netherlands) to the consultation on the Bill, and the amendments proposed by parliamentarian Ozturk (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2016–2017b).

  7. 7.

    Article 1 reads: ‘All persons in the Netherlands shall be treated equally in equal circumstances. Discrimination on the grounds of religion, belief, political opinion, race or sex or on any other grounds whatsoever shall not be permitted’. Sexual orientation does, of course, fall under the other grounds.

  8. 8.

    The Governmental Agreement between the two parties, in 2012, indicated that a number of Social Welfare laws would be brought together into one Participation Law with active participation on the labour market as a main objective. The concept was further introduced in the opening of parliament by the King in 2013, in which the government emphasized that more independent citizens and the need for budget cuts explain a move from a welfare state to a participation society: “Everyone who can, is asked to take responsibility for his or her own life and environment” (Putters 2013).

  9. 9.

    Especially as these also have to be offered to family migrants. See on dispersal (Hoon 2017).

  10. 10.

    Interview developer teaching material, March 2018. The materials can be downloaded via https://www.prodemos.nl/voor-gemeenten/burgerparticipatie/toolbox-participatieverklaring-2/download-materialen-gratis/.

  11. 11.

    Interview 3 eldermen, Tilburg, 21 August 2018.

  12. 12.

    Interview civil servant Eindhoven, July 2018.

  13. 13.

    Interview civil servant De Bevelanden, March 2018.

  14. 14.

    Interview civil servant, April 2018.

  15. 15.

    Vlissingen workshop, April 2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University College Roosevelt/Utrecht University, Middelburg, The Netherlands

    Barbara Oomen

  2. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Emma Leenders

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  1. Barbara Oomen
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  2. Emma Leenders
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Correspondence to Barbara Oomen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Maurizio Ambrosini

  2. CEVIPOF, Sciences Po, Paris, France

    Manlio Cinalli

  3. Department of Sociology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    David Jacobson

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Oomen, B., Leenders, E. (2020). Symbolic Laws, Street-Level Actors: Everyday Bordering in Dutch Participation Declaration Workshops. In: Ambrosini, M., Cinalli, M., Jacobson, D. (eds) Migration, Borders and Citizenship. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22157-7_12

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