ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the theoretical model I have developed to explain the link between local dynamics and variations in civic and political participation of immigrant activists. The model adopts an actor-oriented approach to go beyond deterministic accounts of cities and to grasp the role of both top-down and bottom-up dynamics promoted by a plurality of actors. It accounts for conflicts and alliances between pro-immigrant groups and immigrant activists and explains variations in immigrant activists’ civic and political participation and rights claims. The chapter starts by introducing the literature I use and explain why we need to reconceptualize cities. It goes on to explain the features of the theoretical model I have developed. It closes with an overview of the four cities analyzed in this study to anticipate how the model will allow explaining significant local variations in forms of participation of immigrant activists, as presented in the empirical chapters that follow.
