A Shot at policy?

Local leaders are increasingly faced with the crucial task of governance for permit holder integration. New leaders are developing their own integration priorities, inviting different stakeholders and actors to the table to create innovative policy solutions. Political leaders can here take various roles in governance networks on the local level, continuously changing how actors can have ‘a shot at policy’. This study used the participation-based approach as a form of integration policy that customises permit holder’s individual needs to labour market participation, language training and social inclusion through a large diversity of partnerships. I explored how the style of the alderman or alderwoman informs the variation of horizontal and vertical governance networks, consisting of the council, civil society stakeholders, community organisations and multilevel authorities. This led to the following research question: How does the leadership style of the alderman or alderwoman inform a participation-based integration policy for permit holders? To answer this research question, I analysed the different integration policies in four case studies: Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam. Second, I explored their respective gateway and gatekeeper leadership styles, meaning that I distinguished different forms of how aldermen act in governance networks of local political parties, civil society stakeholders and national authorities. The qualitative analysis of this study showed that alderman leaders participate in a variety of horizontal and vertical relations, informing integration governance networks in different ways. I concluded that horizontal gateway leadership informed a higher participation-based approach, a gateway leadership style was connected to a more open and diverse governance network. This study also concluded that participation-based integration policy was informed by a vertical gatekeeper leadership style; a participation-based integration narrative of the alderman challenged the national policy structures, piloting innovative solutions and pointing out the shortcomings and flaws of national authorities. The conclusions of this study revealed the broad and important function of political leaders in policymaking and governance networks, enriching our understanding of the political particularities of decentralised integration policy. This study set out the specificity of a distinct local narrative that – through a certain leadership style – seduces or hides from civil society stakeholders, embraces or ignores cross-political input, challenges or conforms to national standards.