Why do some cities support irregular migrants? Qualitative comparative analysis of municipal activism for irregular migrants in 13 European global cities

Abstract

The present study seeks to understand under which conditions cities enact inclusionary policies and practices for irregular migrants. Previous research points out the influence of political ideology, local autonomy, economic capacity, diversity, or civil society alliances. We argue that a city’s proactive and supportive stance towards irregular migrants may not be explained fully by one or another single factor, but rather by their combination. Through a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 13 European cities, it was found that the combination of a political discrepancy between the local government and national state, as well as local alliances between the municipality and local civil society organizations, is a necessary condition for municipalities to take a proactive and supportive stance towards irregular migrants.