Rethinking the Economics and the Governance of Reception of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Other Migrants: The Case of Italy

The significant numbers of arrivals through the Central Mediterranean route to Italy between 2014 and 2017 have put the Italian reception system under pressure, and pushed its rapid expansion. This paper examines how the governance of reception has evolved between 2011 and 2018, a time during which the reception system went through two major yet contrasting reforms while at the same time facing an emergency. Based on desk research and qualitative interviews with reception workers, the paper looks simultaneously at the interplay between the changes in terms of regulations, actors and modalities, and the economic aspects of reception governance. The paper adopts the concept of moral economy of reception, which enables to analyse the evolving context in which are differentiated those deserving and undeserving of reception, and the meaning attached to reception. The changes in the governance of reception has also brought changes in the moral economy of reception, shifting from some form of solidarity to discriminatory moral economy based on a hierarchy of deservedness.