ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes several explanations for Rome's lengthy Non-policy phase as well as the gap between espoused and actual policy in the current phase. Rome's migrant policy since 1993 has thus been largely a matter of delegation and coordination, channelling public funding to local NGOs that operate the services for migrants. Italy's 'immigration crisis' of the 1990s coincided with a general destabilization of the political system and the rise of two anti-immigrant parties, the neo-fascist Aleanza Nazionale and the populist Lega Nord. A turning point in Italy's redefinition of migrants as a public order problem occurred in July 1990, when more than 2,000 migrants of various nationalities occupied the former Pantanella bread factory, an abandoned building near Rome's Central Station. Rome's foreign population is extremely heterogeneous in ethnic origin, as characteristic of a 'new immigration' city. The extent to which the municipality can 'do something' regarding the migrant presence is limited in part by the broader institutional context.
