ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the dynamics of electoral competition on the immigration issue in local electoral campaigns. It explores that saliency and positional strategies of issue competition are not sufficient to account for the dynamics of electoral campaigning on contentious policy issues. The book presents the comparative investigation of the politicization of the issue of migration across six electoral campaigns in three Italian cities: Milan, Rome and Prato. In recent years, scholars have increasingly recognized the importance of immigration in local political contexts. Accordingly, Rome hosts the largest Romanian community in Italy, next to a number of illegal and nomadic camps mainly inhabited by Travellers of Romani and Sinti origin. These are the themes that have dominated crime stories and securitized immigration debates over the past decades in Italy and beyond and especially at the time of Romania's access to the EU.