The integration of immigrants: Transitions between research, policy-making and statistical monitoring in the Portuguese case

Abstract

Throughout the twentieth century, the intensification of migration flows prompted an increasing focus by academics and policy-makers on fostering the integration of immigrants in receiving societies. This emphasis also led to discussions on the feasibility of measuring and monitoring integration. Numerous policies addressing migrant integration gained a sound conceptual foundation, reshaping knowledge production through interaction with policy-making and expanding data collection and analysis. Integration is a key illustration of potential reflective dialogue between research, policy and measurement. Nevertheless, publications that relate these three approaches of integration – theoretical, political and statistical – are scarce, primarily due to limited communication between these fields in most countries, a lack of covenant between theoretical, political and methodological concepts and indicators, and the multidimensional and dynamic nature of migrant integration. This article seeks to contribute to this debate, focusing on Portugal, a relatively ‘new’ immigration country recognized for having one of the world’s best integration policies, albeit without a historically rooted national integration model. This article examines the evolution of research–policy–statistics relationships and structures since the 1990s concerning migration and integration. It explores the foundations of the co-production of common operational concepts in theory, policy-making and statistical indicators, seeking a more comprehensive understanding and less dichotomized appropriation of these concepts. This article intends to promote reflection among policy actors, practitioners, scholars and statisticians regarding their actions and interactions in the context of the complexity of migrant integration. It also contributes to the research landscape by conceptualizing the intricacies of immigrant integration while assessing whether mainstreaming, rather than alienation, characterizes Portugal’s approach to organizing and guiding these processes.