Christina Isabel Zuber’s empirically rich and superbly written book addresses the timely question of how we can understand policy choices regarding the integration of migrants; she explores that question in the underresearched context of predominantly minority regions of Europe. The most-similar case study design sets up an interesting puzzle about the factors that influence the development of policy in more inclusionary directions in Catalonia (2009–10) and more exclusionary directions in South Tyrol (2011): “Why are Catalan political parties united in portraying immigration as an opportunity, while in South Tyrol—as in many European democracies—immigration represents a hotly contested political issue? And why does Catalonia opt for a model of immigrant integration based on social equality, while South Tyrol chooses a more exclusionary approach?” (p. 1) To answer these questions, the book develops a theory of ideational stabilization that connects transformative events of the past—in this case, experiences with internal migration between the 1920s and 1970s—with later political choices regarding international migration in the 2000s. In doing so, it provides a much-needed corrective to the field’s overemphasis on showing how ideas can explain policy change to the detriment of understanding how ideas can also affect policy stability: it does so in cases where economic and institutional factors are insufficient for explaining continuity in policy choices.
The idea that past events or historical legacies can have an impact on decision-making processes in the present is not novel. The book’s main contribution is its identification of the causal mechanism that can link past experiences with contemporary politics. The model of ideational stabilization explains how ideas about migration that developed at a previous critical juncture become locked in through the creation of discursive consensus among political elites, as well as through policy and practice. Political actors attempt to sway public opinion and support for certain policies by highlighting either the material incentives of a specific course of action or its fit with societal dispositions. Although political actors have considerable agency in selectively emphasizing certain incentives and dispositions over others, that selection is limited by prevailing societal dispositions. Ideational stabilization is more likely when a policy area is more closely linked to dispositions (norms, values, and identities) than to incentives and when the identity group is large, because the costs of deviating from the consensus will be higher.
This framework draws heavily on the model of choice developed by Dennis Chong in Rational Lives: Norms and Values in Politics and Society (2000), as well as the policy literature on framing developed by James Druckman and others. At times, the treatment of relevant literatures is not exhaustive, and one might dispute certain claims. However, these omissions do not weaken the overall logic of the argument about how ideas become stabilized in ways that contribute to policy stability over time, despite changing economic and institutional incentives.
Empirical chapters 2–6 draw on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, including the literature on national and local policy, regional policy documents, parliamentary debates, party manifestos, and interviews with political and administrative officials in charge of creating and implementing policies, as well as with members of immigrant representative bodies. Within-case process tracing shows how ideas about immigration based on previously positive experiences with internal migration (in the case of Catalonia) and negative experiences (in the case of South Tyrol) developed over time through both political discourse and policy practice, resulting in complete stabilization and more inclusionary policies in Catalonia and incomplete stabilization and exclusionary policies in South Tyrol. The cross-case comparison demonstrates how this causal mechanism produced different political outcomes, which cannot be satisfactorily explained by economic and institutional factors.
Through a frame analysis of parliamentary debates, chapter 2 establishes how certain ideas were activated in the context of debates over legislation in Catalonia (2009–10) and South Tyrol (2011). What emerges is a picture of a broad consensus among Catalan elites that immigration is positive, supported by positive historical frames that connected opportunities with values. In South Tyrol, a competitive framing contest took place, with negative frames linked predominantly to material incentives. Integration was framed as a “one-sided duty of the immigrant” in South Tyrol (43), whereas the “Catalan model of integration” included a commitment to social cohesion and equality, along with a certain level of assimilation (p. 45).
Chapter 3 explores the degree to which policy and discourse converge through a qualitative content analysis of each integration law; this analysis uses a typology developed by Rinus Penninx and Blanca Garcés-Mascareñas to classify inclusion and exclusion across political-legal, cultural-religious, and socioeconomic policy domains. The results demonstrate convergence in that “Catalans strive to make ‘new’ Catalans” through assimilationist policies, whereas “South Tyroleans protect ‘old’ South Tyroleans from the potential impact of migration on social welfare” through more exclusionary policies in the socioeconomic sphere (p. 61). The more restrictive nature of each region’s policies in comparison with other regions lends support to the idea that minority regions are more hostile to immigration.
In chapter 4, Zuber traces how internal migration processes between 1920 and 1970 in each region created ideational legacies that shape differences in contemporary politics despite changing economic incentives. Whereas Catalans were able to improve their status relative to newcomers, South Tyroleans were not. Chapters 5 and 6 trace how elites connected the material incentives of historical experience with values and collective identity in each case and how those ideas become ingrained in routines and practices at the administrative level. However, rather than analyzing policy debates on the creation of new structures and practices, which would provide an interesting point of comparison with chapter 2, Zuber relies primarily on secondary sources and interviews to reconstruct these processes. Chapter 7 concludes with a discussion of how ideational stabilization theory might explain other policy areas and of extending the theory to other minority regions, particularly those with imperial histories.
The theoretical and empirical richness of the book creates a solid foundation for future research. Events since the temporal endpoint of the analysis offer opportunities for Zuber to write an equally engaging next volume. Although the book does very briefly detail some changes in policy through 2017 in the conclusion of chapter 3, extending the theoretical framework to understanding continuity and change in migration and integration policies in post-2015 (migration crisis), post-2020 (pandemic), and post-2022 (Russian invasion of Ukraine) contexts would be worthwhile. Similarly, how ideational policy stabilization affects the situation of migrants or the larger society economically, socially, or organizationally remains largely unexplored. This could provide opportunities for theorizing how to change dispositions to produce more positive outcomes, which would demand more attention to the mechanisms of change in the model. Finally, the focus on minority regions is theoretically interesting; however, it raises questions about how the model would play out in cases where minorities perceive themselves as members of much larger nations that span international borders and therefore may not internalize cultural threats in the same way. The possibilities for applying the framework to understanding the impact of emergent events and different types of cases are a testament to the theoretical, methodological, and empirical strengths of the book.
This book should be of interest to scholars of international migration and integration, as well as policy makers involved in the development of policies at the local level. The clarity and brevity with which it is written and convincingly argued would make it suitable for graduate and undergraduate classes interested in understanding the factors that influence political choices regarding migrants.
