Immigration, Bureaucracies and Policy Formulation: The Case of Quebec

Based on an ethnography of one illuminating case – the formulation of new immigration policy statement entitled “Together, we are Quebec” between 2014 and 2016 – this article argues that policy formulation is an important site of power and influence over immigration‐related policies for bureaucrats....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International migration 2020-02, Vol.58 (1), p.166-181
Main Author: Paquet, Mireille
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bureaucracy
Bureaucrats
Consensus
Consensus building
Ethnography
Experts
Immigration
Immigration policy
Institution building
Modernization
Policies
Political development
Politics
Power
Public administration
Scholarship
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Summary:Based on an ethnography of one illuminating case – the formulation of new immigration policy statement entitled “Together, we are Quebec” between 2014 and 2016 – this article argues that policy formulation is an important site of power and influence over immigration‐related policies for bureaucrats. In dialogue with concepts and theories from public administration, it demonstrates that a broad mandate of reform and modernization, coupled with political tensions surrounding diversity, created opportunities for the bureaucracy to influence Quebec's immigration policy following its interests, relations, expertise and experience. In this case, the bureaucracy's influence operated through two pathways: problem definition and consensus building. While this influence is partially contingent on political and institutional characteristics of the Quebec context, this case shows that scholarship on immigration policy and politics should embrace a much broader reading of the influence of bureaucrats on the content and development of immigration‐related policies.
ISSN:0020-7985
1468-2435
DOI:10.1111/imig.12555