As Rural Development assumes a greater importance in European policy, one strategy to stimulate economic activity across a broad range of sectors is to use small towns as a focal point for economic development. This may be particularly relevant in the UK where there is increasing concern over the future vitality and viability of these towns. However, such a strategy rests on the assumption that there is a strong level of interdependence between small towns and their surrounding areas. While their historical legacy suggests close integration, developments in the wider economy and resultant socio-economic restructuring have undermined the traditional functions of small towns and may have severed many of these local linkages. Methodologies are developed to measure the size and spatial distribution of economic linkages in and around two small towns in rural England; one located in the 'remote' area of South Devon, and one in more 'accessible' Buckinghamshire. Results from two validation exercises indicate that self-completion methods are a useful means of obtaining spatial economic data from producers and consumers. Analysis compares the degree of economic integration of the towns into their respective local economies, and identifies key characteristics of firms and households that are good predictors of strong local integration. Results show that the strength of local economic integration is a function of economic and demographic structure as well as proximity to urban centres. This illustrates that the functional role of small towns in the economy is a more useful criterion on which to base policy recommendations than is demographic size. The town in the 'remote' rural area is found to be more strongly integrated into its locality than the town in the 'accessible' area; indicating that benefits of intervention are more likely to 'trickle out' into the surrounding area in the former case. Further, the minimal role of agriculture in the local economy implies that traditional measures of farm support are no longer likely to provide a valuable method of supporting rural communities. A useful area for subsequent enquiry would be to employ an 'integration index' to develop settlement typologies so that more generalisations can be made to aid the process of policy formulation.

This thesis is a contribution to the formalisation of the notion of an agent within the class of finite multivariate Markov chains. In accordance with the literature agents are are seen as entities that act, perceive, and are goaldirected. We present a new measure that can be used to identify entities (called i-entities). The intuition behind this is that entities are spatiotemporal patterns for which every part makes every other part more probable. The measure, complete local integration (CLI), is formally investigated within the more general setting of Bayesian networks. It is based on the specific local integration (SLI) which is measured with respect to a partition. CLI is the minimum value of SLI over all partitions. Upper bounds are constructively proven and a possible lower bound is proposed. We also prove a theorem that shows that completely locally integrated spatiotemporal patterns occur as blocks in specific partitions of the global trajectory. Conversely we can identify partitions of global trajectories for which every block is completely locally integrated. These global partitions are the finest partitions that achieve a SLI less or equal to their own SLI. We also establish the transformation behaviour of SLI under permutations of the nodes in the Bayesian network. We then go on to present three conditions on general definitions of entities. These are most prominently not fulfilled by sets of random variables i.e. the perception-action loop, which is often used to model agents, is too restrictive a setting. We instead propose that any general entity definition should in effect specify a subset of the set of all spatiotemporal patterns of a given multivariate Markov chain. Any such definition will then define what we call an entity set. The set of all completely locally integrated spatiotemporal patterns is one example of such a set. Importantly the perception-action loop also naturally induces such an entity set. We then propose formal definitions of actions and perceptions for arbitrary entity sets. We show that these are generalisations of notions defined for the perception-action loop by plugging the entity-set of the perception-action loop into our definitions. We also clearly state the properties that general entity-sets have but the perception-action loop entity set does not. This elucidates in what way we are generalising the perception-action loop. Finally we look at some very simple examples of bivariate Markov chains. We present the disintegration hierarchy, explain it via symmetries, and calculate the i-entities. Then we apply our definitions of perception and action to these i-entities.

The thesis analyzes immigration and integration policy of France at the three different levels (supranational, national and local), while the choice of France was inspired by the fact that this country has among the European ones the longest tradition of receiving immigrants. The work is based on theoretical and conceptual approaches to international migration as well as on immigration and integration policies. In case of theoretical and conceptual approaches, it was mostly inspired by the concept of Heckmann' four dimensions of the process of social integration (Heckmann and Schnapper, 2003; Bosswick and Heckmann, 2006), by the Entzinger' and Biezeveld' (2003) assessment of integration as the resulting state and especially by Alexander's (2007) classification of policies implemented by local authorities, which allows as one of rare concepts to compare policy-making at the national and local level. From the methodological point of view, two regions which best suited the preliminary requirements on different share of immigrants in population on each territory and the difference between "city in rural area - metropolis" were chosen: Paris (or more precisely its 14 districts) and seven cities in the region of Basse-Normandie (Caen, Hérouville-Saint-Clair, Cherbourg-Octeville, Flers, Alençon, Argentan...

The main aim of this thesis is the comparison of approaches to integration of foreigners at the local level in Prague and Barcelona. The author also wants to find out if the policies applied in Barcelona are transferable to the Czech environment. The thesis is based on selected concepts focused on the integration of foreigners into the host society (classical typology of national integration models or integration models based on psychological aspects by Berry) and its components included on the definition of migration and integration policy (Baršová, Barša 2005; Penninx 2016; Bosswick, Heckman 2006 and others). Due to the nature of the work, a qualitative method of research was selected, consisting on the analysis of secondary sources (expert studies, annual reports, governmental and municipal policies, statistical sources). In addition, semi-structured interviews were held with representatives of local governments in Prague and Barcelona. Local integration policies are created in a specific context of the state. The work is also an outline of the migratory history of the Czech Republic and Spain, the institutional provision of migration and integration policies at individual administrative levels (national, regional, local) and their development. It has been found that the city of Barcelona has a strong...

The UNHCR reports an anticipated growing number of migration movements in Africa that will increase the amount of prolonged refugee situations, with the international debate regarding refugee policies discussing local integration as a durable solution. Local integration policy is dependent on the acceptance and willingness of the host population and can engender tensions between refugees and hosts, which could be a result of their uneven power distribution, with one group possessing more social power, leading to more opportunities in the community. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between refugees and host community in a settlement and seeks to expose any tensions that could arise between the groups from an uneven power distribution by using an analytical framework based on Norbert Elias’ book The Established and the Outsiders, which focuses on community problems between two groups. This thesis draws on a field study of the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in southern Uganda that has a refugee policy partially aimed towards local integration. The data has been collected through semi-structured interviews and observations as part of an ethnographic approach. The interviewed key stakeholders have been refugees and host populations living within the settlement as well as government officials and representatives from international organisations, IGOs and NGOs. Using Elias’ theory as a universal analytical tool showed us that there are established-outsider constellations creating tensions in a community, however these tensions do not fully rely on the qualities of the relationship. Moreover, results from the study indicate that the relationship between nationals and refugees in the settlement and the tensions it fostered are to a very large degree influenced by external factors, more specifically by the Ugandan government and international organisations as well as the complexity of group dimensions and situations, which contributed to a weakened host population.

​​A massive challenge presents for host countries to manage and integrate incoming displaced people. East Africa is one of the sub-Saharan African regions experiencing an enormous refugee influx. Somalis and South Sudan refugees are a majority and are estimated to represent 80% of the refugees in Kenya; the Somali refugee crisis in Kenya is a significant problem, housing more than 200 000 Somali refugees in camps and cities. This field study aims to comprehend the integrating experience of urban Somali refugees within the scope of durable solutions. The study seeks to understand how various individual, family, and clan ties and characteristics aid urban Somali refugee integration. The theories chosen to guide this research is Sen's capability approach along with the social capital theory. This thesis has been delimited to only focus on the Urban Somali refugees living in East Leigh, Nairobi neighborhood. According to recent research, urban Somali refugees often need help with obtaining the necessary documentation to live freely and fully in their host countries. This lack of official documentation can pose significant barriers to accessing necessities such as housing and employment, making it challenging for refugees to integrate fully into their new communities. Additionally, refugees face discrimination and xenophobia, which can further impede their integration efforts. Interestingly, the study found that clan affiliation was crucial in facilitating integration, even more so than factors such as gender or social class.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:21:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Viviane Mozine Rodrigue.pdf: 3105848 bytes, checksum: b3835c3067ea7e39ec6120caadd09898 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Geographically divided in two states, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul, in 2007 Brazil received 108 Palestinians from a refugee campsite in Rweished, Jordan, through the Brazilian solidarity resettlement program. For this thesis, the spatial area of the subjects is focused on the refugee group resettled at Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo. Generally, this study pursuits to present the Brazilian context in resettlement of Palestinians and their local integration, enlightening institutional limitations (government agencies, of civil society and the international community) and policies (internal and international legislations and public policy), therefore using an transdisciplinary approach from Political Science, International Relations, Sociology, History, Geography and Law. The resettlement and the local integration are two durable solutions to the UNHCR, meaning, they are two more lastingly, perhaps permanent solutions to the issue of refuge in cases which return to the country of origins is out of question. The issue presented with the Palestinians is that the resettlement was not followed by a local integration of the group, reason why it was marked by tensions and protests concluding with the diminish of the Brazilian quota granted to the resettlement program and, at least temporarily, the negative perception of Palestinians refugees in the same program. To investigate the answer to this question, interviews were conducted which allowed us a general characterization of the Palestinians refugees resettled and also the opinions of institutions that deal directly with the refuge matter. Brazil is a country that host refugees showing great solidarity, however the great contradiction is this solidarity in incomplete or restricted, because it does not automatically inserts these groups in its social policies, depriving them of economic, cultural and social rights. What we attain is that the action of the Brazilian State in favor of the refugees is still insufficient, resulting in the local integration being very dependent on the interaction of the civil society. However, if in one hand the Brazilian Government is being inefficient in executing and elaborating public policies towards the refugees protection, on the other hand it reveals it self-conscious of its limitations, since it has been creating new institutional spaces. Nonetheless, still has to abandon the paternalistic view, which makes refugees passive recipients, transforming them in protagonists, reversing the current logic. That way, the State makes an evident mistake when not interfering with propper mechanisms and tools so the refugees can be able to study, qualify and integrate themselves to the labor market. The same way, the UNHCR can provide a more assertive participation within local integration. Thus, rethink the resettlement and local integration of refugees in Brazil goes essentially through overcoming institutional limits and inclusion barriers in current public policies / Divididos geograficamente em dois Estados, São Paulo e Rio Grande do Sul, em 2007 o Brasil recebeu 108 palestinos, provenientes do campo de refugiados de Rweished na Jordânia, através do programa de reassentamento solidário brasileiro. Para esta tese, o recorte espacial do objeto de estudo se concentra no grupo de refugiados reassentados em Mogi das Cruzes no interior paulista. Em linhas gerais, o trabalho busca apresentar o contexto brasileiro do reassentamento dos palestinos e sua integração local, revelando as limitações institucionais (órgãos governamentais, da sociedade civil e da comunidade internacional) e de políticas (legislação interna e internacionais e politicas públicas), tendo para isso utilizado uma abordagem transdisciplinar na Ciência Política, nas Relações Internacionais, na Sociologia, na História, na Geografia e no Direito. O reassentamento e a integração local são duas soluções duráveis para o ACNUR, dito de outra forma, elas são duas soluções para a questão do refúgio de modo mais duradouro e quiçá permanente em casos nos quais não é possível o regresso ao país de origem. A questão que se coloca quanto aos palestinos é que o reassentamento não foi acompanhado de uma integração local desse grupo e, por isso, sua estadia foi marcada por tensões e protestos que culminaram na diminuição da quota brasileira concedida ao programa de reassentamento e, pelo menos temporariamente, na negativa de recepção de refugiados palestinos pelo mesmo programa. Para investigar a resposta a essa questão, foram realizadas entrevistas que nos permitiram uma caracterização geral dos refugiados palestinos reassentados e também as opiniões das instituições que lidam diretamente com a temática do refúgio. O Brasil é um país que acolhe refugiados demonstrando grande solidariedade na questão, porém, a grande contradição é que essa solidariedade é incompleta ou restringida, porque esta não insere automaticamente estes grupos em suas políticas sociais, privando-os dos seus direitos econômicos, culturais e sociais. O que constatamos é que a ação do Estado brasileiro a favor dos refugiados ainda é insuficiente, estando a integração local muito dependente da atuação da sociedade civil. Entretanto, se, por um lado, o Governo brasileiro tem sido ineficaz na execução e elaboração de políticas públicas voltadas para a proteção dos refugiados, por outro, ele tem se revelado consciente das suas limitações, já que tem criado novos espaços institucionais. Por outro lado, ainda falta abandonar a visão paternalista que torna os refugiados beneficiários passivos para transforma-los em protagonistas, invertendo a lógica atual. Assim, o Estado comete um erro evidente, ao não intervir com mecanismos e instrumentos necessários para que os refugiados possam estudar, se qualificar e se integrar no mercado de trabalho. Da mesma forma, o ACNUR pode ter uma participação mais assertiva no âmbito da integração local. Assim, repensar o reassentamento e a integração local de refugiados no Brasil passa essencialmente por uma superação dos limites institucionais e de inclusão nas políticas públicas existentes

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:55:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Viviane Mozine Rodrigue.pdf: 3105848 bytes, checksum: b3835c3067ea7e39ec6120caadd09898 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Geographically divided in two states, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul, in 2007 Brazil received 108 Palestinians from a refugee campsite in Rweished, Jordan, through the Brazilian solidarity resettlement program. For this thesis, the spatial area of the subjects is focused on the refugee group resettled at Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo. Generally, this study pursuits to present the Brazilian context in resettlement of Palestinians and their local integration, enlightening institutional limitations (government agencies, of civil society and the international community) and policies (internal and international legislations and public policy), therefore using an transdisciplinary approach from Political Science, International Relations, Sociology, History, Geography and Law. The resettlement and the local integration are two durable solutions to the UNHCR, meaning, they are two more lastingly, perhaps permanent solutions to the issue of refuge in cases which return to the country of origins is out of question. The issue presented with the Palestinians is that the resettlement was not followed by a local integration of the group, reason why it was marked by tensions and protests concluding with the diminish of the Brazilian quota granted to the resettlement program and, at least temporarily, the negative perception of Palestinians refugees in the same program. To investigate the answer to this question, interviews were conducted which allowed us a general characterization of the Palestinians refugees resettled and also the opinions of institutions that deal directly with the refuge matter. Brazil is a country that host refugees showing great solidarity, however the great contradiction is this solidarity in incomplete or restricted, because it does not automatically inserts these groups in its social policies, depriving them of economic, cultural and social rights. What we attain is that the action of the Brazilian State in favor of the refugees is still insufficient, resulting in the local integration being very dependent on the interaction of the civil society. However, if in one hand the Brazilian Government is being inefficient in executing and elaborating public policies towards the refugees protection, on the other hand it reveals it self-conscious of its limitations, since it has been creating new institutional spaces. Nonetheless, still has to abandon the paternalistic view, which makes refugees passive recipients, transforming them in protagonists, reversing the current logic. That way, the State makes an evident mistake when not interfering with propper mechanisms and tools so the refugees can be able to study, qualify and integrate themselves to the labor market. The same way, the UNHCR can provide a more assertive participation within local integration. Thus, rethink the resettlement and local integration of refugees in Brazil goes essentially through overcoming institutional limits and inclusion barriers in current public policies / Divididos geograficamente em dois Estados, São Paulo e Rio Grande do Sul, em 2007 o Brasil recebeu 108 palestinos, provenientes do campo de refugiados de Rweished na Jordânia, através do programa de reassentamento solidário brasileiro. Para esta tese, o recorte espacial do objeto de estudo se concentra no grupo de refugiados reassentados em Mogi das Cruzes no interior paulista. Em linhas gerais, o trabalho busca apresentar o contexto brasileiro do reassentamento dos palestinos e sua integração local, revelando as limitações institucionais (órgãos governamentais, da sociedade civil e da comunidade internacional) e de políticas (legislação interna e internacionais e politicas públicas), tendo para isso utilizado uma abordagem transdisciplinar na Ciência Política, nas Relações Internacionais, na Sociologia, na História, na Geografia e no Direito. O reassentamento e a integração local são duas soluções duráveis para o ACNUR, dito de outra forma, elas são duas soluções para a questão do refúgio de modo mais duradouro e quiçá permanente em casos nos quais não é possível o regresso ao país de origem. A questão que se coloca quanto aos palestinos é que o reassentamento não foi acompanhado de uma integração local desse grupo e, por isso, sua estadia foi marcada por tensões e protestos que culminaram na diminuição da quota brasileira concedida ao programa de reassentamento e, pelo menos temporariamente, na negativa de recepção de refugiados palestinos pelo mesmo programa. Para investigar a resposta a essa questão, foram realizadas entrevistas que nos permitiram uma caracterização geral dos refugiados palestinos reassentados e também as opiniões das instituições que lidam diretamente com a temática do refúgio. O Brasil é um país que acolhe refugiados demonstrando grande solidariedade na questão, porém, a grande contradição é que essa solidariedade é incompleta ou restringida, porque esta não insere automaticamente estes grupos em suas políticas sociais, privando-os dos seus direitos econômicos, culturais e sociais. O que constatamos é que a ação do Estado brasileiro a favor dos refugiados ainda é insuficiente, estando a integração local muito dependente da atuação da sociedade civil. Entretanto, se, por um lado, o Governo brasileiro tem sido ineficaz na execução e elaboração de políticas públicas voltadas para a proteção dos refugiados, por outro, ele tem se revelado consciente das suas limitações, já que tem criado novos espaços institucionais. Por outro lado, ainda falta abandonar a visão paternalista que torna os refugiados beneficiários passivos para transforma-los em protagonistas, invertendo a lógica atual. Assim, o Estado comete um erro evidente, ao não intervir com mecanismos e instrumentos necessários para que os refugiados possam estudar, se qualificar e se integrar no mercado de trabalho. Da mesma forma, o ACNUR pode ter uma participação mais assertiva no âmbito da integração local. Assim, repensar o reassentamento e a integração local de refugiados no Brasil passa essencialmente por uma superação dos limites institucionais e de inclusão nas políticas públicas existentes

The major thrust of refugee protection worldwide is directed towards providing assistance to refugees in emergency situations. In South Africa, a large number of refugees have moved beyond this initial emergency phase such that the extended nature of their refugee status has left them in a state of continuous vulnerability. Their prolonged exile has led to violations of various rights recognised by international law and South Africa’s own constitutional and refugee law. Faced with restricted access to rights, refugees in South Africa live in poverty, are frustrated, and do not realise their full potential, to say nothing about the overt and brutal attacks they constantly face as victims of xenophobia. Their continued status as refugees deprives them of opportunities and subjects them to constant fear of harassment and exploitation. Even though neither the UNHCR nor the South African government has classified refugees living in South Africa as being in a protracted situation, many refugees have been in South Africa for five years or longer, with no durable solution in sight. This thesis highlights the plight of refugees in protracted refugee situation in South Africa and recommends suitable solutions to the problems this situation raises.

[pt] A presente dissertação analisou os desafios e perspectivas da proteção social de crianças e adolescentes refugiadas e solicitantes de refúgio no município do Rio de Janeiro, a partir da atuação de atores governamentais e não governamentais. Para tanto, empreendeu-se uma abordagem qualitativa a partir de entrevistas com doze profissionais de instituições voltadas para o atendimento da população refugiada e das que compõem o Sistema de Garantia de Direitos da Criança e do Adolescente. Na compreensão dos dados coletados, utilizamos as normatizações nacionais e internacionais que regulam a proteção de refugiados e de crianças e adolescentes. A pesquisa permitiu debater as conexões entre integração local e acesso às políticas sociais, com foco nas ações e estratégias de inserção e nas dificuldades práticas e administrativas-jurídicas vivenciadas por esta população. Os resultados apontam para a potencialidade da intervenção das instituições junto a este público, mas revelam também que os marcos normativos por si só não são suficientes para a consolidação dos seus direitos. Concluímos que existem ainda desafios a serem enfrentados no campo das políticas sociais que atendem esse grupo social cujas especificidades devem ser reconhecidas no desenvolvimento dos seus serviços vislumbrando a reparação de mais uma das iniquidades sociais. / [en] The present dissertation analyzed the challenges and perspectives of the social protection of refugee children and adolescents and refugee applicants in the city of Rio de Janeiro, based on the actions of governmental and non-governmental actors. Therefore, a qualitative approach was undertaken based on interviews with twelve professionals from institutions focused on serving the refugee population and those that make up the Child and Adolescent Rights Guarantee System. In understanding the data collected, we use national and international regulations that regulate the protection of refugees and children and adolescents. The research allowed to discuss the connections between local integration and access to social policies, focusing on the actions and strategies of insertion and the practical and administrative-legal difficulties experienced by this population. The results point to the potential of the intervention of the institutions with this public, but also reveal that the normative frameworks alone are not sufficient for the consolidation of their rights. We conclude that there are still challenges to be faced in the field of social policies that serve this social group whose specificities must be recognized in the development of their services with a view to redressing one more of social inequities.