Analysing integration from the perspective of local actors: a comparative case study of Newham/London and Shinjuku/Tokyo

This study aims to investigate the concept of integration and policy response towards local integration issues from the perspective of local actors, such as council staff and members of community-based organisations/groups. It has been argued that integration happens at local level and local councils have taken a lead in developing and promoting integration policy in the UK and Japan. Newham and Shinjuku were selected because they have the most diverse populations in London and Tokyo. A conceptual framework was developed to analyse integration issues at the local level. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 local actors (9 participants in Newham and 15 in Shinjuku) in order to gain qualitative insights and to illustrate integration perspectives and integration policy. Interview data in Newham and Shinjuku was analysed inductively, using coding analysis and analysed separately as a single case, and then two findings from these analyses were compared to draw cross-case conclusions. The findings show that local actors defined integration in a different way from central government – it was defined based on the characteristics of the local community in Newham, and as a political term and as principles in local practice in Shinjuku. The local policies illustrated were categorised as a mainstreamed, whole community approach in Newham, where people with a migration background were in the majority, and as multicultural, reception policies in Shinjuku, where foreign residents were in the minority. Despite these differences, it was found that some local actors in Newham and Shinjuku share similar views – refusing to label people based on nationality, ethnicity and religion; considering the integration barriers to be addressed as a structural rather than an individual responsibility. The findings also show that community-based organisations were considered as important key actors in local approaches towards integration, rather than in local policy-making. These results suggest that there are integration perspectives specific to the local area and that consensus building on integration within local areas is needed, in order to address local integration issues. Also, it is important to consider community-based organisations, not only as local government partners that influence policy-making and cooperate to deliver local policy, but also as main actors that have formed local efforts towards integration.