Volume 23 Number 4 October 1997

Special issue: Incorporating migrants in multicultural societies: migration control and its effects

Wolfgang Seifert
Admission policy, patterns of migration and integration: the German and French case compared [Abstract]

Kees Groenendijk
Regulating ethnic immigration: the case of the Aüssiedler [Abstract]

Philip Martin
Guest worker policies for the twenty-first century [Abstract]

Grete Brochmann
Bosnian refugees in the Scandinavian countries: a comparative perspective on immigration control in the 1990s [Abstract]

Michael Blos, Peter A. Fischer and Thomas Straubhaar
The impact of migration policy on the labour market performance of migrants: a comparative case study [Abstract]

Uwe Wenzel and Mathias Bös
Immigration and the modern welfare state: the case of USA and Germany [Abstract]

Kimberly A. Hamilton
Europe, Africa and international migration: an uncomfortable triangle of interests [Abstract]

Stephen Small
Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay, Questions of Cultural Identity

Robert Kloosterman
Ruth Glasser, My Music is My Flag; Puerto Rican Musicians and Their New York Communities 1917–1940

Martin Baumann
Robin Cohen, Global Diasporas: An Introduction

Madeleine Tress
John Borneman and Jeffrey M. Peck, Sojourners: The Return of German Jews and the Question of Identity

Neena Samota
Kayleen M. Hazlehurst (Ed.), Popular Justice and Community Regeneration: Pathways of Indigenous Reform

Maria Inês de Magalhaes
Jan Nederveen Pieterse and Bhikhu Parekh (Eds), The Decolonization of Imagination: Cuture, Knowledge and Power

Monica Voudouris
The Open Society Forced Migration Projects, Crimean Tatars: Repatriation and Conflict Prevention

Floya Anthias
John Gabriel, Racism, Culture, Markets

Neena Samota
Will Kymlicka (Ed.), The Rights of Minority Cultures

Jeroen Doomernik
Michael Cohn, The Jews in Germany, 1945-1993: The Building of a Minority

Admission policy, patterns of migration and integration: the German and French case compared
Wolfgang Seifert

Abstract Different concepts of citizenship and nationality prevail in Germany and in France. These differences lead to different patterns of migration into these countries and to different policies governing the integration of migrants. The French concept of equality leads to a migration policy which is oriented towards the assimilation of migrants. Citizenship is accordingly granted more on the principle of jus soli and differences in status groups are not held to exist. Germany’s understanding of citizenship has been based on descent and immigration policy has focused on groups which have German ethnic backgrounds. During the period of economic demand for foreign labour, Germany did not plan to have permanent immigration and considered the employment of foreign labour to be a temporary measure. In the meantime, even when the arrival of immigrants with no German ethnic background is accepted, there still exist enormous differences in the integration of different ethnic groups. While ethnic Germans are privileged in that they have a right to citizenship when they arrive in Germany, and are also entitled to various integration measures, other immigrant groups often do not have citizenship, even with the second and third generations.

(New Community Vol. 23 No. 4: 441-460, © Carfax Publishing Ltd.)

Regulating ethnic immigration: the case of the Aüssiedler
Kees Groenendijk

Abstract The migration of ethnic Germans to Germany is one of the major migration movements to Western Europe after 1950. The efforts of successive German governments to regulate and control the immigration of Aussiedler may well give some insight in the capacities of governments of democratic states to regulate immigration. This article gives a historical overview of the various instruments used by the German government in order to regulate the immigration of Aussiedler. The effect of those instruments on the migration movement and the relative (in)effectiveness of the policy instruments are explored on the basis of a comparison of the migration from Poland, Romania and the former USSR. The hypotheses on the limits of governmental efforts to control migration, proposed by van Amersfoort (1996), and some of the typical characteristics of ethnic migration influencing policy making are discussed.

(New Community Vol. 23 No. 4: 461-482, © Carfax Publishing Ltd.)

Guest worker policies for the twenty-first century
Philip Martin

Abstract Guest or foreign worker programmes aim to add workers to the labour force without adding permanent residents to the population. However, the rationale for guest worker programmes has changed, from coping with macro or sectoral labour shortages in the 1950s and 1960s to filling specific job vacancies in the 1990s. This means that administrative costs and conflicts are likely to increase at a time when labour market institutions such as employment exchanges are becoming less significant and credible in determining whether foreign workers are needed.

(New Community Vol. 23 No. 4: 483-494, © Carfax Publishing Ltd.)

Bosnian refugees in the Scandinavian countries: a comparative perspective on immigration control in the 1990s
Grete Brochmann

Abstract In all the Nordic countries, a change of direction in refugee policy has taken place in recent years, primarily for similar reasons to those in the rest of Western Europe. These changes have been sparked off by the situation in the former Yugoslavia, but should also be seen as reflecting something more. The authorities have wanted to extend the range of solutions available to them as far as types of protection are concerned, as well as to pave the way for greater flexibility in enforcing policy. The prospect of a continuing influx of refugee groups, and a corresponding strain on national budgets, creates a backdrop for new thinking in all countries. An interesting aspect of this issue in the Nordic region is that, despite being a fairly homogeneous area, these countries have chosen radically different points of departure for their approach to refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina. The article identifies these different national strategies and analyses the subsequent tendency towards convergence of policies that has taken place along the way.

(New Community Vol. 23 No. 4: 495-510, © Carfax Publishing Ltd.)

The impact of migration policy on the labour market performance of migrants: a comparative case study
Michael Blos, Peter A. Fischer and Thomas Straubhaar

Abstract This article investigates the impact of migration policy on the labour market performance of migrants in Sweden and Switzerland. It concentrates on the income and employment of groups of foreign residents relative to natives and looks at socio-demographic characteristics and educational policies. In so far as declared goals are concerned, the Swedish and the Swiss migration policies reflect opposite approaches. From its aims and instruments, the Swiss policy has been economically oriented, considering migrants as merely temporary guests. The Swiss policy lacked any explicit integration policy. The Swedish policy has emphasised humanitarian and political aspects, rejecting migration for economic labour market reasons and aiming at the long-term integration of foreigners once admitted to the country.

(New Community Vol. 23 No. 4: 511-535, © Carfax Publishing Ltd.)

Immigration and the modern welfare state: the case of USA and Germany
Uwe Wenzel and Mathias Bös

Abstract Increasing migration has led to extensive discussion of the definition of membership within a nation-state. This article presents a comparison of the inclusion of migrants into welfare programmes in the USA and in Germany. In the first part of the article a brief overview is provided of five immigration categories in both countries in order to demonstrate the relevance of these administrative regulations for the opportunities of individual migrants to participate in the welfare system. In the second part we elaborate in more detail on how welfare programmes have developed as basic mechanisms to include or exclude migrants. Our findings illustrate an increasing differentiation of membership statuses parallel to the expansion of modern welfare systems. In both the USA and Germany, the territorial principle and participation in the labour market are of prime importance to the access to social rights. In both cases all migrants may profit from contributory programmes.

(New Community Vol. 23 No. 4: 537-548, © Carfax Publishing Ltd.)

Europe, Africa and international migration: an uncomfortable triangle of interests
Kimberly A. Hamilton

Abstract Arguing that research on migration and the state has focused primarily on receiving states, this article places sending and receiving states in a dynamic historical context within which states strive to protect political, economic, and socio-cultural interests. This framework is applied to the Euro-African migration system and leads to three primary findings. First, migration flows from Africa have diversified in terms of origins and destinations and no longer necessarily follow patterns of colonial relations. Such a trend calls into question the efficacy of bilateral responses. Second, African states have clearly demonstrated interests in managing emigration and return migration and need to be considered as partners in policy responses. Third, African migrant communities are exerting greater independence vis-à-vis sending and receiving states. This diversification and growing independence poses interesting challenges for sending and receiving state policy in the Euro-African migration system.