Basic Report

   Due to various factors such as globalization, development of transportation, and political instability, immigrants have been increasing gradually, and open policies for them are being pursued steadily in Korea as a way to solve various problems caused by population aging and declining fertility rate. Therefore, it is now time for local governments to take a variety of measures to integrate them into local communities as soon as possible.
   In this context, this study compares the immigrant integration policy of municipality in parallel with the city of Ansan in Korea, the city of Stuttgart and Munster in Germany. The purpose of this study is to provide the implications for the introduction and establishment of the integration-related system at the local government level and the role of the local government in the integration of the immigration. In Chapter 2, the theoretical debates on the integration policy of immigrants are systematically analyzed. This paper is to start with the discussion on the concept of immigrants' integration, then classifies the integrated model into three types derived from the study of Castles & Miller and multi-level governance and then presents the analysis framework of this study based on that theoretical discussion and consideration by examining diverse previous researches. Chapter 3 compares the characteristics of the immigrant systems and policies of Korea and Germany, focusing on the fact that it is necessary to review the important environmental characteristics in promoting the immigrants integration into the local level. In chapter 4, the characteristics of immigrant integration policies for local governments of both countries mentioned above are analyzed and compared. As a result, the integration policies in Korea and Germany were considered mutually connected to the central and local governments, and were executed by local civil society and the participation of foreign organizations which are multi-level governance. In addition, the local government striving to set up its own policies for migrants and the consistent promotion from the mayor and the local assembly have played an important role. Above all, the integration policy for immigrants was characterized as an approach to the development policy for the whole community by providing a basis for self-supporting in the local community, rather than a simple dispensation policy.
   However, the most significant difference is also found in the policy monitoring system. In Korea, the monitoring is done to government department such as the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family by its projects and the self-governing bodies are partly carried out by themselves, whereas Germany has a monitoring function for the integration policies of the migrants at each stage from the federal government to the state government and the local government. The Federal Ministry of the Interior is responsible for the integration of immigrants and the Federal Chancellery Office coordinates the policies by having a chief officer and holds a unified ministerial meeting to coordinate the federal and state governments. These monitoring systems are operated similarly in individual states, and local governments also conduct their own monitoring. In Germany, it is also characteristic that the integration organization has a very strong coordination authority over the integration-related tasks at the local level. There were also differences in the participation of immigrant groups in the activities and the policy process. In the case of Ansan City, it is advisory role, but Stuttgart city and Munster city had a channel through which immigrants can participate in the decision and enforcement of immigration integration policy through the immigrant centered committees.
   Until now, the integration policy of immigrants has mainly started from the discussion at the central government level, but there is a necessity to shift toward the direction of the beneficiaries-centered integration policy that reflects the actual situation of the field at the local government level. In order to integrate immigrants, local government should be given policy autonomy which enables to make use of various resources of the region concerned and try to analyze the problems and causes of various policies and finally improve the quality of the policy.