Urban Planning (ISSN: 2183–7635) 2021, Volume 6, Issue 2, Pages 103–112 DOI: 10.17645/up.v6i2.3800 Article Migration-Related Conflicts as Drivers of Institutional Change? Maria Budnik *, Katrin Grossmann and Christoph Hedtke Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, 99085 Erfurt, Germany; E-Mails: [email protected] (M.B.), [email protected] (K.G.), [email protected] (C.H.) Submitted: 30 October 2020 | Accepted: 18 March 2021 | Published: 27 April 2021 Abstract This article examines the role of social conflicts in the context of migration and discusses the relation between such conflicts and institutional change. We understand conflicts as tensions that evoke contradiction between different social groups or institutional actors. Varied urban contexts together with dynamic immigration of heterogeneous population groups can induce negotiation processes that affect institutional settings and actors. Conflicts have therefore been an integral part of urban coexistence, and cities have always been places where these conflicts play out. We assume that conflicts are social phenomena, which have multiple causes and effects. Public assumptions about conflicts in connection with migra- tion often have a negative or destructive impetus, while conflict theory ascribes to conflicts potential positive effects on societal change. Conflicts can represent forms of socialization and the possibility of adapting or changing social conditions. This article discusses the extent to which migration-related conflicts induce institutional change. Using qualitative empiri- cal results from the BMBF-funded research project MigraChance, we present a case study that reconstructs the emergence and course of a conflict surrounding the construction of a Syriac-Orthodox church in Bebra (Hesse) in the 1990s. Analyzing this conflict both in depth and in relation to its local context, we show that migration is only one part of what we refer to as migration-related conflicts, and we shed light on the complexity of factors that can result in institutional change. Change can also occur indirectly, in small steps, and with ambivalent normative implications. Keywords change; conflicts; Germany; institutional change; migration Issue This article is part of the issue “Migration-Led Institutional Change in Urban Development and Planning” edited by Robert Barbarino (TU Dortmund University, Germany), Charlotte Räuchle (Free University Berlin, Germany) and Wolfgang Scholz (TU Dortmund University, Germany). © 2021 by the authors; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY). 1. Introduction public media, politics and interdisciplinary scientific dis- courses in recent years. Several authors in the field In heterogeneous urban contexts and in the course of German migration research see conflicts in connec- of dynamic immigration of heterogeneous population tion with immigration as a sign of successful integra- groups, conflicts have always been part of urban coex- tion rather than rising problems. This is a relatively istence. Thus, cities have always been places of con- new perspective that gained popularity within the last flict (Amin, 2002; Valentine, 2008). For that reason, we decade. In this interpretation, descendants of migrants consider it necessary to understand the dynamics and challenge the legitimacy of the hegemonies and insti- impacts of conflicts, and their role for social develop- tutions of the host society and therefore, more con- ment. In this article, we will focus on social conflicts flicts may arise (El-Mafaalani, 2018; Treibel, 2017a). in the context of migration, which we understand as Hence, one central aspect of migration research is everyday manifestations of profound societal negotia- the analysis of shifting power relations between long- tion processes. established residents and immigrants (Treibel, 2017b). In the German context, the interpretation and impli- On the one hand, the rediscovery of the political dis- cations of conflicts became the subject of debates in pute points to hopes for a revival of democracy and its Urban Planning, 2021, Volume 6, Issue 2, Pages 103–112 103 institutions (Mouffe, 2014). On the other hand, it reveals on conflict theory, migration research and theories of a demand for an adaptation to the long-denied reali- institutional change. Much is known about institutional ties of migration. Since cities are ultimately the result change at the level of nation-states. At the subnational of sustained, long-term (im)migration, these effects level, there is growing attention to institutional change must—and should—be found locally, and “institutions, but the field is largely “underexplored” (Evenhuis, 2017, from administrations to municipal enterprises, muse- p. 510) and the same holds true for the municipal level. ums, libraries and educational institutions need to Recent years have seen increased interest in the role of change to pay justice to the ever-growing social diver- conflict in institutional change especially by institutional sity. This change has become a matter of survival” economists (Shami, 2019; Zikos, 2020). However, theo- (Terkessidis, 2010, p. 8, authors’ translation). ries of institutional change have paid little attention to In the past, the academic and, particularly, the conflict theories, whether on a national (Resch, Kersting, political debate often ethnicized and culturalized con- & Müller, 2019) or international level (Mitchell, 2005). flicts about migration and adopted a focus on problems Even though conflict research on a local level paid atten- (Bommes, 2010). These terms describe the attribution tion to migration, particularly to so-called ethnic conflicts and reduction of conflicts to ethnic or cultural differ- (Hüttermann, 2000), conflict theory engaged less with ences between groups of people based on their actual migration despite its inherent interest in drivers of social or attributed national, ethnic, cultural or religious back- change. Migration research, finally, paid attention to the ground. For us, migration-related refers less to the fea- development of migration-related institutions like for- tures assigned to groups or individuals. Our stance on eigner’s advisory councils but much less focused on con- migration rather examines the negotiations related to it flicts. In order to examine how these topics are related and to the associated societal and institutional change. conceptually, we will review existing theories in the fol- Hence, our approach focuses on conflicts in which a lowing paragraphs. local society discusses the object of conflict in relation Conflict theory attributes certain effects to social con- to migration, where migration becomes a reason itself. flict. Coser (1957) assumes that “no group can be entirely We are thus interested in examining the relationships harmonious” and that therefore “conflict is an essen- between migration, conflict and institutional change. tial element in group formation” (Coser, 1957, p. 31). The expectation that guided our research was that, Another assumption is that the negotiation of power is a in the course of such migration-related conflicts, insti- basic element that “creates [groups’] interests in change tutional change occurs as a process of adaption to new as well as interests in the status quo” (Dahrendorf, 1988, societal realities. This change, we assumed, would man- p. 28). Thus, social conflicts can have an effect on social ifest in the creation of new institutions, the adaptation structures when goals, values or interests among oppo- of existing institutions, the formation of new networks nents are negotiated (Coser, 1957, p. 151). Moreover, of actors, or through learning processes in pre-existing conflicts would lead to “revitalize existent norms; or structures. Furthermore, in conflicts, actors would nego- [contribute] to the emergence of new norms. In this tiate the validity of norms and values and thereby ques- sense, social conflict is a mechanism for adjustment of tion and reaffirm the legitimacy of existing institutions. norms adequate to new conditions” (Coser, 1957, p. 154). Finally, conflicts can also accompany the establishment Recent work in conflict theory emphasizes the role of institutions and negotiate their role and position in a of conflict for democracy (Comtesse, Flügel-Martinsen, local society. Martinsen, & Nonhoff, 2019). Most prominent here is Our contribution addresses the question of how the the argument supported in the work of Mouffe (2014), conflict under investigation—the planned construction and more recently in planning theory (e.g., Pløger, 2017): of a Syriac-Orthodox church in the German small town Democracy is best understood as ‘agonistic pluralism.’ of Bebra in the mid-1990s—influenced local institutional Conflicts cannot—and should not—be eliminated, as the settings. With this in mind, we review the assumptions acceptance and legitimation of conflicts is precisely what within theories of institutional change and its relation characterizes pluralism, and thus pluralistic democracy to conflict and analyze how the aforementioned conflict (Mouffe, 2014). became a particularly contentious process. We trace the Many scholars define institutions to be either complexity of this conflict in detail and reveal how dif- “formal—such as laws, procedures, contracts, statutes ferent institutions interacted with its dynamics. To con-