Governmental Migration Research in Germany: Knowledge Production at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees

Abstract

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is the central executive authority on migration and integration policy in Germany. Vinzenz Kratzer analyses the Federal Office's research output between 2005 and 2015 with a joint perspective of Ethnography and Political Science. In the wake of political reforms after the "paradigm change" around the turn of the millennium, the development of practically relevant knowledge can be traced. While governmental researchers were able to establish themselves in the bureaucracy with some success, they bought this influence with uncontroversial, depoliticized knowledge production, while the production of seemingly politically irrelevant knowledge - most importantly on racism and discrimination - is underdeveloped.