Immigration policy implementation in Italy: organisational culture, identity processes and labour market control

This article investigates the micro level of immigration policy implementation, with particular reference to the management of immigrant participation in the Italian labour market. More specifically, the study analyses the organisational culture and identity processes that guide the daily routines of police agents in the Foreigners' Office (FO) of the Florence police headquarters. Foreigners' Offices are the main agencies responsible for issuing and renewing stay permits for work purposes in Italy. The research design is ethnographic and incorporates a wide range of materials including qualitative interviews, participant observation, policy documents, grey literature and newspaper articles. Interviews and participant observation were conducted in several statutory agencies and non-governmental organisations in the Florence metropolitan area with the aim of triangulating the data and achieving a better understanding of the implementation process. The findings suggest that the FO uses a high level of discretion in processing immigrant applications for permits. The discretionary practices adopted reflect the combination of a formal hierarchical and clientelistic culture with new demands for efficiency and a user-friendly service. In the end, the FO manages to show high levels of output but in reality a rather poor outcome as real efficiency is not achieved and clientelistic relations or common-sense ideologies of organised philanthropy towards 'needy foreigners' prevail over a rational organisation of the work.