LOCALMULTIDEM 'Multicultural Democracy' And Migrants' Social Capital In Europe: Participation, Organisational Networks, And Public Policies At The Local Level Funded under the European Union Framework Six Programme. Start date: February 2006, for 3 years. The main objective of the LocalMultiDem project is to study the degree of political integration of migrant populations in several European cities, and thereby to examine 'multicultural democracy' at the local level. The project studies political integration by looking at the degree of socio-political participation by migrants, and their level of 'trust' and acceptance for the political values, institutions and elites of the host society. It combines 'social capital' and 'opportunity structure' approaches. For the British case, the study focuses on North London (Camden, Hackney and Islington) and three migrant communities (Bangladeshi, Indian, and Black Caribbean). This allows to compare different experiences across London boroughs, and to examine the different trajectories of migrant groups within London. Our selection also allows for comparison of the (a) individual opinions and b) collective organization of groups by religious and/or ethnic difference. General questions that guide the research are: 1) To what extent are migrant populations politically integrated into the local life of their cities? 2) Are there significant differences in the degree to which different ethnic, cultural or national groups are politically integrated into the local life of their cities? 3) If such differences exist, what factors help to explain the variations in the degree of political integration from one immigrant group to another? The analytical approach of the research considers the influence of four types of factors: a) migrants' individual characteristics; b) the structuring of migrants' organisations along ethnic, national or geo-cultural cleavages; c) the structure of institutional and discursive opportunities; and d) the structural relationship of the migrant group within the host society. Information is collected at three different analytic levels: 1) secondary sources and interviews with political and administrative authorities 2) survey of migrants' associations and community organizations (n = 100 groups) 3) survey of individual migrants from three groups (for the UK: Bangladeshi, Indian, and Black Caribbean groups) with a control group of national-born citizens (n = 1200 people). The project has a dedicated website hosted by the University of Murcia (http://www.um.es/localmultidem/index.php). For more details please contact Ranji Devadason or Paul Statham See working papers and publications for current outputs. European partner institutions working on the project, with lead contacts, are: University of Murcia, Spain - Dr. Laura Morales Diez de Ulzurrun University of Geneva, Switzerland - Dr. Marco Giugni Fondation National des Sciences Politiques, Paris, France - Dr. Manlio Cinalli Ethnic and National Minorities Studies Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences - Prof. Endre Sik University of Trento, Italy - Prof. Mario Diani University of Bristol, UK - Prof. Paul Statham