Somali Associations' Trajectories in Italy and Finland: Leaders Building Trust and Finding Legitimisation

Abstract

Previous research on migrant associations has explained their formation and maintenance by highlighting migrant groups' cultural characteristics or the political opportunity structures (POS) available in the countries of settlement. Past research has also focused on associations in relation to migrants' political participation in the countries of settlement, applying the notion of social capital. The aim of this article is to enrich the debate on migrant associations by analysing their trajectories. This analysis will also make use of the concepts of POS and social capital. The article analyses Somali associations' developmental trajectories over time in two different settlement-country contexts—Italy and Finland. The argument put forward is that, while political opportunity structures do matter, they are not sufficient to explain Somali associations' trajectories. Findings show that similar characteristics and networking processes of associations have been observed in both locations. The long-term functionality of associations is often in the hands of the associations' leaders, who exhibit similar uses of social capital. Leaders are the ‘professionals of mobilisation’, which also has consequences for the professionalisation of their associations.