ALBANIAN IMMIGRANTS TO ITALY-ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES OF INTEGRATION

AFTER THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC COLLAPSE OF THE COMMUNIST REGIME, THE ALBANIAN PEOPLE EXPERIENCED SOME GREAT MIGRATION WAVES TO ITALY. EACH OF THEM WAS CHARACTERIZED BY EXTREMELY DIFFICULT STARTING CONDITIONS, AS WELL AS BY THE COMPLETE SHOCK AND UNPREPAREDNESS ON THE ITALIAN AUTHORITIES AND POPULATION. THE INTEGRATION PROCESS HAS PASSED THROUGH FAILURES AND CHALLENGES BUT IS TODAY CONSIDERED A MOSTLY SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION STORY. WHICH ARE THE MAIN FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO A RELATIVELY RAPID INTEGRATION AFTER SU CH A DRAMATIC START? THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE DYNAMICS AND CHALLENGES POSED IN THREE DECADES OF MIGRATION FLUXES, WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON CULTURAL AND WORKFORCE INTEGRATION, CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS ACTIVITY, THE MEDIA’S ROLE IN DESCRIBING AND SHAPING THE RELATION BETWEEN MIGRANTS AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES. INTEGRATION STATISTICS ARE ANALYZED, ESPECIALLY WORKFORCE INTEGRATION, FAMILY REUNIFICATIONS, EDUCATION AND CRIME, IN RELATION TO THE ITALIAN POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS. SOME OF THE INTEGRATION FACTORS ARE ALSO CONSIDERED, WITH A SPECIAL INTEREST IN THE DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS DURING THE DIFFERENT MIGRATION FLOWS. ON THEIR PART, ITALIAN AUTHORITIES HAVE UNDERTAKEN SOME IMPORTANT INTEGRATION CAMPAIGNS FOCUSED ON THE LEGALIZATION PROCESS OF THE OCCUPIED ILLEGAL ALIENS AND THE AGREEMENTS WITH THEIR ALBANIAN COUNTERPART REGARDING THE DEPORTATION OF LEGALLY CONVICTED ALBANIAN CITIZENS.

The body of this article is intentionally hidden on the public page. Please use the PDF reader or the PDF download for the complete text.