Conclusion: Towards an Integrated Approach to the Political Inclusion of Migrants

Abstract

The point of departure of this book was twofold. On the one hand, we set ourselves the objective of describing and above all accounting for the political attitudes and behaviours of migrants in European cities. With this aim in mind, we suggested that we move away from a narrow approach focusing mainly or even solely on individual factors to embrace a broader and more integrated perspective. The previous chapters have focused in particular on three aspects which we believe need to be taken into account: (1) the human capital arising from the individual characteristics and resources of migrants; (2) the social capital resulting from their involvement in voluntary associations; and (3) the political capital provided by the opportunities stemming from the political-institutional context in which they live. On the other hand, we started from the assumption that the analysis of the political attitudes and behaviours of migrants tells us something about their degree of political inclusion or exclusion.