Chapter 6 The multilevel governance of asylum seekers’ reception in Germany and the role of the local level

"This book provides a comparative overview of asylum seekers’ reception throughout Europe by adopting a theoretical framework based on an analytical approach to the notion of multilevel governance. It challenges the tendency of the multilevel governance literature to overlook political controversies and conflicts and questions the assumption that it represents the best policymaking arrangement for promoting policy convergence. In doing so, it explores the functioning of the reception component of the Common European Asylum System in centralised states and federal/regional states and analyses its implementation at both national and local levels. The book reveals the heterogeneous development of reception policies not only across Member States but also within each country where solutions adopted at the local level generally diverge substantially. Furthermore, the overall centralization of policymaking on reception regardless the institutional structure, seems to leave little room for MLG arrangements tailored to specific localities and triggers tensions between central governments and local authorities. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of migration and asylum studies, immigration, (multilevel) global governance and more broadly to comparative politics, European studies/politics, and public policy.

Chapter 6 The multilevel governance of asylum seekers’ reception in Germany and the role of the local level

"This book provides a comparative overview of asylum seekers’ reception throughout Europe by adopting a theoretical framework based on an analytical approach to the notion of multilevel governance. It challenges the tendency of the multilevel governance literature to overlook political controversies and conflicts and questions the assumption that it represents the best policymaking arrangement for promoting policy convergence. In doing so, it explores the functioning of the reception component of the Common European Asylum System in centralised states and federal/regional states and analyses its implementation at both national and local levels. The book reveals the heterogeneous development of reception policies not only across Member States but also within each country where solutions adopted at the local level generally diverge substantially. Furthermore, the overall centralization of policymaking on reception regardless the institutional structure, seems to leave little room for MLG arrangements tailored to specific localities and triggers tensions between central governments and local authorities. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of migration and asylum studies, immigration, (multilevel) global governance and more broadly to comparative politics, European studies/politics, and public policy.

Handlungsorientierungen, Integrationspraktiken und Einstellungen zivilgesellschaftlicher Akteur*innen in ländlichen Räumen

This working paper addresses action orientations of civil society actors who are involved in integration processes of asylum seekers and refugees in rural areas. The interviewees are important local actors with essential local expertise in this field. The aim of this paper is to analyse the receptiveness of local societies regarding refugees, other migrants, or newcomers in general. The main hypothesis is, that general orientations regarding the meaning of “integration” shapes societies’ responses towards newcomers. Thus, this paper presents varied interpretations of the term “integration”, which are connected to the varied societal contexts, collective mindsets and actors’ self-positionings in the respective locality or region. A second focus of the paper is to analyse how narrations of “integration” are embedded in narrations of “rurality”. The issues here are in particular societal and structural conditions and challenges of rural areas which have been discussed on a local level, and have been reinforced by the arrival of refugees in 2015. These first findings stem from an interview series which was carried out in the context of the joint project “Future for refugees in rural regions of Germany”

Fission Yeast MAP Kinase Sty1 Is Recruited to Stress-induced Genes

The stress-induced expression of many fission yeast genes is dependent upon the Sty1 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and Atf1 transcription factor. Atf1 is phosphorylated by Sty1 yet this phosphorylation is not required for stress-induced gene expression, suggesting another mechanism exists whereby Sty1 activates transcription. Here we show that Sty1 associates with Atf1-dependent genes and is recruited to both their promoters and coding regions. This occurs in response to various stress conditions coincident with the kinetics of the activation of Sty1. Association with promoters is not a consequence of increased nuclear accumulation of Sty1 nor does it require the phosphorylation of Atf1. However, recruitment is completely abolished in a mutant lacking Sty1 kinase activity. Both Atf1 and its binding partner Pcr1 are required for association of Sty1 with Atf1-dependent promoters, suggesting that this heterodimer must be intact for optimal recruitment of the MAPK. However, many Atf1-dependent genes are still expressed in a pcr1Δ mutant but with significantly delayed kinetics, thus providing an explanation for the relatively mild stress sensitivity displayed by pcr1Δ. Consistent with this delay, Sty1 and Atf1 cannot be detected at these promoters in this condition, suggesting that their association with chromatin is weak or transient in the absence of Pcr1