Integration Through Disintegration? The Distinction Between Deserving and Undeserving Refugees in National and Local Integration Policies in Germany

Abstract

Whereas refugees with an insecure residence status have long been excluded from integration measures in Germany, they have recently become the target of integration policies at both the national and the local levels, especially in cities. This chapter compares these policies through category analysis. The core argument is that there is a difference between the logics underlying the policies at the two levels: the national Integration Bill is mainly marked by an ethno-national framing of integration which contributes – through the introduction of the notion of ‘likely or not to stay’ – to a further fractioning of the refugee label and thus the deterioration of rights for many asylum claimants. While it posits integration as a privilege and duty for ‘genuine’ refugees, it aims to undermine the integration of those not deemed to be deserving, following the logic that the disintegration of the latter is necessary to reserve integration capacities for the former. At the local level, in contrast, participation matters more than legal status and refugees are increasingly viewed as a potential resource for and part of a heterogeneous urban society. Yet, also at the local level, integration is ultimately tied to disintegration, as local authorities attempt to select who comes to the city in the first place.