Migration Governance and Perceptions of Public Attitudes in Veneto

This chapter explains how and why the Venetian governance system produced a highly politicised and highly inefficient reception system for asylum-seekers. It shows that Venetian policymakers understood asylum-seeking migration as having primarily consequences on public opinion. Extensive demonstrations against reception facilities reinforced policymakers’ pre-existent perceptions, strictly linked to underlying ideas about the Venetian culture, that Venetians display intense hostility towards asylum-seekers. These perceptions led policymakers affiliated with all political parties to adopt passive policymaking approaches and passive stances towards public opinion. These passive stances—and the absence of any coordination within the governance network—contributed to the production of a highly inefficient reception system, characterised by huge and highly contested reception facilities and a very unequal distribution of migrants across municipalities.