Abstract This article studies the effects of the Israeli migration regime on the prospects for the emergence of a politics of claims-making by labour migrants, comparing the structures of constraints and opportunities to establish organisational frameworks faced by documented contract workers and undocumented spontaneous migrant workers. In spite of the exclusionary character of this migration regime, some groups of migrant workers have succeeded in establishing associations that attempt to place demands on the public agenda. Paradoxically, these organisations were established by the migrant workers that hold the most insecure and vulnerable status in the country: the undocumented spontaneous migrants. The paradox is explained by the differences between the institutional arrangements that shape the incorporation of documented and undocumented migrants. While the control mechanisms exercised both by state agencies and the employers upon the documented migrant workers impede their collective organisation and articulation of demands, the relative ‘autonomy’ enjoyed by the undocumented migrants allows them to establish associations that function as vehicles for claims-making. The article further analyses the strategies employed by these migrant organisations to gain access to Israeli state agencies and public opinion. It is shown how these strategies as well as the content and the discursive framing of the demands are affected by the exclusionary principles of the Israeli migration regime.

(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 25 No. 4: 575–595, © 1999 Taylor and Francis Ltd.)

Political mobilisation by minorities in Britain and the negative feedback of ‘race relations’
Paul Statham

Abstract This article uses a political opportunity approach to study the relationship of minority groups to the political community in Britain. The argument is made that the British race relations approach established in the 1960s has had an important effect that still shapes the patterns of political mobilisation and contention by different minority groups today. Original data on political claims-making by minorities demonstrate that British ‘racialised’ cultural pluralism has structured an inequality of opportunities for the two main groups, African- Caribbeans and Indian subcontinent minorities. African-Caribbeans mobilise along racial lines, use a strongly assimilative ‘black’ identity, conventional action forms, and target state institutions with demands for justice that are framed within the recognised framework of race relations. Conversely, a high proportion of the Indian subcontinent minority mobilisation is by Muslim groups, a non-assimilative religious identity. These are autonomously organised, but largely make public demands for extending the principle of racial equality to their non-racial group. Within the Indian subcontinent minorities, the relative absence of mobilisation by Indian, Sikh and Hindu minorities, who have achieved much better levels of socioeconomic success than Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims, suggests that there is also a strong socioeconomic basis for shared experiences and grievances as Muslims in Britain. This relativises the notion that Muslim mobilisation is Britain is purely an expression of the right for cultural difference per se, and sees it as a product of the paradoxes of British race relations.

(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 25 No. 4: 597–626, © 1999 Taylor and Francis Ltd.)

Germany and its immigrants: an ambivalent relationship
Ruud Koopmans

Abstract Over the 50 years of its existence, immigration to the Federal Republic of Germany has consisted on the one hand of migrants of ethnic German descent, and on the other, of foreign migrants, who came as gastarbeiter or asylum-seekers. The levels of political conflict and mobilisation provoked by these two immigration flows have diverged enormously. While ethnic German immigration and integration has been a low-key political issue, the migration of foreigners has developed into the most conflict-ridden issue of political mobilisation in 1990s Germany. The present article explains this difference as a result of Germany's ethno-cultural conception of citizenship and nation ood. While this conception facilitated the integration of migrants labelled as ‘Germans’ into the national community, it simultaneously stood in the way of the development of the inclusion of ‘foreign’ migrants, including their German-born descendants. The article shows how this affects the public perception and self-identification of migrants, and consequently the political mobilisation of ethnic minorities in Germany, as well as the mobilisation of xenophobic and extreme- right groups. Finally, the possible implications of Germany's recent decision to revise its conception of citizenship are discussed.

(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 25 No. 4: 627–647, © 1999 Taylor and Francis Ltd.)

The debate over enfranchisement of foreign residents in Belgium
Dirk Jacobs

Abstract There has been debate over enfranchisement of foreign residents in Belgium since the early 1970s. This article examines the presence and influence of the ethnic minority voice in the political debate on this topic. The reluctance of the main political parties to address the issue openly and the electoral struggle over the anti-immigrant vote incited immigrant (and antiracist) groups to rally fiercely for enfranchisement. However, there was little discernable evidence of any (positive) influence being exerted by immigrant associations and the wider suffragist movement on the parliamentary debate over enfranchisement of foreign residents. The absence of direct communication and lack of negotiation between the political elite and migrant associations and the antiracist movement, has served to reduce the role of ethnic minority groups to that of being mere subjects of discourse in elite-driven domestic politics.

(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 25 No. 4: 649–663, © 1999 Taylor and Francis Ltd.) 

Migrants at the polls: an analysis of immigrant and refugee participation in Danish local elections
Lise Togeby

The ‘Swedish model’ as an institutional framework for immigrant membership rights
Maritta Soininen

Abstract The article reviews some major changes in the Swedish government’s understanding of the membership rights of immigrants in Swedish society over the last three decades. Embedded in the ‘Swedish model’s’ institutional preconditions, the 1970s innovative view expresses a promise of multicultural group rights for immigrants in addition to social and political rights, but barely a decade later the government modified its position and moved closer to existing international praxis in the area. Since the 1980s, the development of immigrant social and political membership in Sweden has given cause for concern and has led to further shifts that put a stronger emphasis on individual rights as the basis for immigrant membership entitlements. These developments are, of course, subordinate to the significant changes within the Swedish institutional framework, not least because of the increased internationalisation of Sweden and individualisation of Swedish society.

(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 25 No. 4: 685–702, © 1999 Taylor and Francis Ltd.)

Political participation and political trust in Amsterdam: civic communities and ethnic networks
Meindert Fennema and Jean Tillie

Abstract This article examines the political participation and political trust of four ethnic groups in Amsterdam. We explore, first, the degree to which Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese and Antilleans participate and the extent to which they trust the democratic institutions of the city? Second, we address how differences in participation and trust can be explained. For this we will turn to the civic community perspective which was reintroduced powerfully by Robert Putnam in his Making Democracy Work (Putnam 1993). In order to measure the civic community of ethnic groups we focus on ethnic organisations in Amsterdam and the links between them. Additionally, we will also report data on the use of mass media.
We conclude that there is a rank correlation between the degree of civic community of the various ethnic groups in Amsterdam and the levels of political participation and political trust in local – non-ethnic – political institutions. Civic engagement and social capital are the most powerful determinants of the quality of multicultural democracy.

(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 25 No. 4: 703–726, © 1999 Taylor and Francis Ltd.)

Black African immigrants in France and claims for housing
Cécile Péchu

Abstract. The mid-1980s in France saw the emergence of an activist movement focusing on the issue of housing. Until 1993, primarily African families made up the social basis of this movement. I study its genesis from two perspectives: first, a macro-sociological angle identifying the structural modifications to African immigration as the reason why it came about in 1986 and, second, a micro-sociological angle focusing more specifically on the iterative process of social action at the time. It is the transformations of African immigration to France at the beginning of the 1980s and changes to the housing market in Paris area that encourage the appearance of the movement leading to housing claims. The collective action can only develop, however, because black African immigrants in France already have minimum 'indigenous' resources. The genesis of the mobilisation as a process is considered from a micro-sociological perspective. This approach serves to show that a defensive mobilisation contained a certain number of advantages for a group with low resources. It alone allows legitimate use of community networks, even though the French conception of citizenship assumes their non-existence.

(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 25 No. 4: 727–744, © 1999 Taylor and Francis Ltd.)