Abstract
Over the last decades, the globalization of the food and agriculture sector has fueled international labor migration to rural areas in Southern Europe. Portugal is no exception to this trend, as the intensification of foreign investment in agriculture combined with a declining and ageing workforce created a demand for flexible immigrant labor. The Eastern European and Asian immigrant workers who answered the industry’s call were confronted with poor working conditions and lack-ing access to public services. In this article, we zoom in on the governance challenge that the presence of precarious immigrant workers (PIWs) poses to rural municipalities in the south of Portugal. The burgeoning literature on local integration policies mainly focuses on how cities deal with the challenge posed by international labor migration. This article draws on a detailed case study of the municipality of Odemira to argue that more attention needs to be paid to emerging local migration regimes in non‐urban localities. By adopting a regime‐theoretical approach, we study how power relations between the local government, civil society, and the private sector play out around the question of immigrant reception. Our study suggests that immigration policies in rural localities are increasingly being developed through cooperation and coproduction between public and private actors. First, we demonstrate how the presence of PIWs is perceived as a policy “problem” by each actor. Second, we outline how a governing coalition formed around the shared concern to improve arrival infrastructures, stimulate integration, mediate socio‐cultural impact, and accommodate business interests. We con-clude by critically questioning the impact that emerging local migration regimes have on the rights and social position of PIWs in rural contexts.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 185-195 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Politics and Governance |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Oct 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Municipal Plan for the Integration of Migrants in Odemira was developed between 2015 and 2017 by the impetus of the National Strategy for Migrant Integration of the high commissioner for migration. This plan, which is part of the Project Odemira Integra A㴃? is funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, and covers 10 operation fields. (Odemira Município, 2019). A representative of the Municipal Plan stressed that the participation of more than 40 entities in the concep‐ tion, formulation, and execution of the strategy was of key importance: The great added value of this Project has to do with the collaborative network that was created, the Project is not only of the municipality. Although the municipality is the coordinator… this would not be possible without the collaboration and participation of all entities. (Interview 5) Subsequently, the Local Commission for Interculturality was created to serve as a platform where public enti‐ ties like the parish councils, the public schools, Social Security, the Immigration and Borders Service and the Authority for Working Conditions and non‐public enti‐ ties like TAIPA, agricultural workers unions, and compa‐ nies can meet (Interview 5). The platform aims to cre‐ ate “democratic practices, guided by local protagonism and based on horizontality, where local political decision makers are inserted, as partners” (Odemira Município, 2019). However, in practice, most of the heavy lifting is done through projects coordinated by TAIPA. As a TAIPA representative put it: “Everyone knows that TAIPA is the one who is on the ground and in the frontline in the immi‐ gration issue. It’s either the municipality or TAIPA, or it comes from the municipality to TAIPA” (Interview 6). This was confirmed by the representative of the Municipal Plan, who stated that “TAIPA is a very strong partner here in the municipality” (Interview 5). Despite the horizontal‐ ity that is put forward as a guiding principle within the public–private partnership, it can thus be argued that there is an imbalance within the governing coalition.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal).
