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Lectures Migrants and Integration - 2024
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Lectures Migrants and integrationLecture 1 – Immigrants and policy
Policy plays a role in migration and integration. Policies provide a
framework through which we can look at these two things.
Do migration policies matter? mixed views
No, because:
- Structural forces matter more (economic, political circumstances;
war is more impactful than policies that exist).
- Self-sustaining after reaching critical level (when migration flows
reach a level, they start to generate more migration – social
networks between countries).
- Human rights constrain policy options
Yes, because:
- Visa requirements and border controls (in countries where visa
requirements are less demanding, there is more migration – so
policies do matter).
- Historical examples
- Detection and control of irregular migration
De Haas et al. (2019):
- More restrictive migration policies since the 1960s
- More migration since the 1960s
- This suggests that restrictive measures have not generated the
expected effect.
So, migration policies do not matter
I. Abolish renunciation requirement
II. Reintroduce requirements
III. Language and civic integration test
IV. (pending) Restriction language
requirement
This picture looks like policies do matter.
Today: conceptual and empirical challenges when studying migration
policy.
Framework for thinking critically about future sessions when revisiting
policies.
,What is migration policy?
Different kinds of migration policy:
Mobility: Immigration policy is policies about immigration, about borders
and movement. Settlement: Immigrant policy is about the right and duties
of citizens when they are in a country.
- Immigration policy: laws governing the admission, removal and
status of non-citizens
- Immigrants policy: laws that regulate the political, economic and
social rights of non-citizens
Categorical: about legal status, laws that provide or deny access to right
based on legal status. Touch on distinctions on rights.
Multicultural: not about legal status, but based on group characteristics
(non-legal ones).
- Categorical policy: laws about access to privileges based on legal
status (e.g. rights attached to citizenship)
- Multicultural policy: laws about access to privileges based on
group characteristics (e.g. multilingual education or recognition of
minority holidays)
External policy refers to immigration policy/mobility
Internal policy refers to immigrant policy/settlement
- External migration policy: laws relevant before first entry in the
host country (either before migration or before reaching the host
country territory) (e.g. visa requirements, border barriers,
information campaigns)
- Internal migration policy: laws relevant after first entry in the
host country (e.g. citizenship laws, work permits)
Note, these categories are not mutually exclusive.
E.g. citizenship policies are both categorical and internal.
Migration policy characteristics
Migration policies may be…
- National, bilateral (policies between two countries) or made by
larger entities such as EU you can have policies at different levels.
- Focus on different types of migrants
o Labor migrants (economic)
o Family-related migrants
o Asylum seekers
o Return migrants
o Emigrants people who leave a country
- Or types within types (e.g. low-/high-skilled labor migrants
subcategory of labor migrants)
Keep these distinctions in mind, we will see later why they matter.
,They matter to understand the migration policy from a societal and
academic perspective.
Migration policy from a societal perspective
Discursive gaps = difference between how policymakers talk about what
they want to do and what they actually propose in their policy.
Competing interests means policy-makers compromise. For instance,
regarding immigration policies (2 stakeholders will follow):
- Business lobbies – liberal
- Worker unions – restrictive tend to worry about the competition on
the work field. They are in favor of restrictive policies.
Policies are the product of discursive coalitions
Stakeholders thus do not need to have the same goals, which can explain
seemingly irrational or erratic policies.
It can really help to hold this stakeholders in mind when policymakers say
one thing and do something entirely different.
Implementation gaps
It is about the difference between the introduced legislation and the way it
is put in practice.
Policies on the books are not necessarily impactful on the ground.
This depends for instance on:
- Power and autonomy of state bureaucracy
- Constitutional protections
- Relative independence of the judiciary – policymakers can introduce
something but if it is constitutional then one might sue the
government?
- Number of immigrants
Stalled or lacking implementation of policies may explain surprising
patterns.
Example: loss of nationality resulting in statelessness
- The Rutte II coalition announced in 2014 an “uncompromising battle”
against Dutch individuals who decided to travel to and join Islamic State.
- Introduced a new law by which the Dutch citizenship of these individuals
could be revoked.
- However, if this would result in statelessness (often the case), it would go
against article 14, paragraph 8 of the Dutch Nationality Act (and would be
discriminatory towards those with multiple citizenship)
- Courts successfully challenged the proposal, leading to its withdrawal.
Side-effects
Policies often have unforeseen or unintended side-effects.
For instance, in the context of immigration policies:
- Spatial substitution: diversion of migration to other countries
(direction)
, a restriction of immigration policy leads to migrants just moving
elsewhere. Spatial = relating to space. A country decides to restrict
immigration policy so migrants move to a different place. So not
necessarily less immigration, but other flow.
- Categorical substitution: reorientation towards other channels of
migration (composition)
a result of a policy change is that different kinds of migrants
might come. Not less migration, but individuals arriving through a
different channel. Amount doesn’t change, but kind change.
- Inter-temporal substitution: anticipation effects (e.g. now or
never migration) (timing)
relating to time. Because a restriction is coming, so they decide to
move now (before the restriction arrived).
- Reverse flow substitution: not just inflow but also outflow effects
(volume)
relating to outflow. A country might restrict it’s immigration policy
and this leads also to less migrations leaving. Because it is harder to
come back for example.
This can lead to confusing patterns.
Example: reintroduction renunciation requirement
- Restriction of dual citizenship policy in late 1997 because policy-makers
felt naturalization was too easy.
- Result: highest naturalization rate ever recorded in Dutch history.
- A naïve analysis would be that restriction leads to more naturalization, not
less.
Migration policy from an academic perspective
Academic: how can we explain this ambiguity based on the research we
did?
Definitions and measurements
A lot of research is comparative in nature:
- Individuals with/without a migrant background
- Citizens/non-citizens
- Asylum seeker/family migrants
In the context of migration policies, there are typically two options.
Compare:
- Before/after a policy change (longitudinal) to see if something
changes over time.
- Units of analysis with different policies (often cross-sectional) at a
single time.
Adequate comparisons require clear definitions.
Definitions
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