ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this chapter is to map the principle structural and policy frameworks governing the integration of immigrants in Spain. This case study is a clear example of a practical approach and ‘multiple diversity’, where two frameworks interact: an old, unresolved one, arising from democratic transition and based on what Kymlicka described as plurinational, and a new one due to immigration, described as polyethnic. Spain’s specific geographical location is at the border of Europe. This entrance to the Schengen space has faced important flows of migration from the south. The multilevel governance of integration impacts on the distribution of competences on integration and the fact that multiple integration policy approaches can coexist, with their own intergovernmental tensions. We argue that the volume and intensity of international migratory flows in Spain – which experienced an extraordinary migratory boom at the beginning of the twenty-first century and a severe economic recession from 2008 – together with the construction of European Union architecture, determined a reactive type of migration and integration policy, with notable contrasts according to the different administrative levels contemplated. As we show, the Spanish case makes explicit the multilevel argument that it is at the level of the territorial distribution of competences that most governance tensions arise.
