Immigrant Inclusion and Municipalism in a Danish Context

This paper explores municipalism in a Danish context. The notion of municipalism has over the last decade gained both renewed academic traction and developed as a political practice, especially in a Southern European context. Within this framework, municipalities have sought to develop alternative policy frameworks targeting societal challenges such as climate change, sustainability, diversity and also immigrant inclusion and integration. These pathways to inclusion frequently challenge the often restrictive national policy frameworks. However, current investigations of municipalism also argue that we have seen the peak of this kind of framework and identify less room for manoeuvre on the local level in terms of developing approaches different to the national ones. This paper asks if we can identify municipalism in a Danish context, what may have shaped such relations, and discusses its potential and limitations. It draws on interviews with politicians and civil servants in three larger Danish cities.