Comparing the Incomparable? Migrant Integration Policies and Perplexities of Comparison
| Published date | 01 June 2018 |
| Author | Snježana Gregurović,Drago Župarić‐Iljić |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12435 |
| Date | 01 June 2018 |
Comparing the Incomparable? Migrant
Integration Policies and Perplexities of
Comparison
Snje
zana Gregurovi
c* and Drago
Zupari
c-Ilji
c*
ABSTRACT
This article examines the level of development of integration policies in the European Eco-
nomic Area and the attempts to compare and standardize them. We discuss national integration
models and policies based on the results of the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) and
OECD/EU indicators of integration. Indicating the possible pitfalls of measuring and compar-
ing integration policies, the results of researches into labour mobility and access to citizenship
are examined. This comparative study shows that the indicators of immigrant integration are
often at odds with the development level of integration policies, which results in their inade-
quate implementation in practice. Furthermore, EU countries face different challenges in the
enactment of integration policies which spring from diverse (im)migration experiences, the
scope of past migrations, and recent migratory flows. This is why integration policies should
be re-indexed, taking into consideration the particularities of (im)migration flows, the size of
the immigrant population and other relevant factors.
INTRODUCTION
Over the last twenty years the number of studies (and comparative studies, in particular) into
migratory and post-migratory phenomena has increased. Many subjects from this area are the focus
of large research projects financed by the European Union (hereafter EU) and other international
institutions (Martiniello, 2013: 116). Due to an increase in the number of third country nationals
(TCNs) in the EU countries, there is an increased focus on integration policies meant to integrate
immigrants into the host society.
1
There is a considerable amount of effort within these studies to
systematically examine various models of integration policies and their level of development. As
the EU does not have a unified, binding integration policy, these policies are enacted at the national
level, with each individual country implementing its own integration policies and models. Integra-
tion policies and models are significantly influenced by differences in social and political systems,
the organization of the welfare state, and the historical and cultural characteristics of the host coun-
tries. However, they are also strongly influenced by the scope and composition of the (im)migration
flows.
Until recently, the idea was ingrained that the integration policies of older immigrant countries
would follow certain models. Proposed by Castles (1995), the usually mentioned models of immi-
grant integration are the differential exclusion model, the assimilation model and the pluralist
model. However, it is becoming obvious that integration policies conform to specific models
* Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb
doi: 10.1111/imig.12435
©2018 The Authors
International Migration ©2018 IOM
International Migration Vol. 56 (3) 2018
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
increasingly less often (Koopmans et al., 2005; Bader, 2007; Finotelli and Michalowski, 2012).
Therefore, researchers are beginning to question the classic immigrant integration models, mostly
due to how they are implemented in practice.
Penninx and Garc
es-Mascare~
nas (2016) stress that during the past decade the main focus of study
has been the integration processes of different immigrant groups within a national or local context
in different host societies and their comparison. Alongside this, integration policies were also sub-
ject to analysis, almost always on a national level. Recently, this analysis has encompassed the
supranational and the local level, especially when dealing with policy and how it is implemented
(Penninx and Garc
es-Mascare~
nas, 2016: 26).
Nevertheless, it seems that analysis of integration policies at a national level is still the focus of
many studies. One such study is the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX), which measures
the level of development of integration policies in many European and non-European countries. It
establishes the level of equality and responsibility of citizens of a given country and the level of
support given to their specific needs in order to have the same opportunities in different areas of
society (economics, politics, culture, education, etc.).
This article examines the level of development of immigration policies in the countries of the
European Economic Area (EEA) and the attempts to compare and standardize them. National
modes of immigrant integration as well as their normative requirements are also examined. The first
section looks at integration models and policies, and tries to explain what is questionable and why
are they criticized. The second section presents the MIPEX as a tool for the comparison and evalu-
ation of integration policies within the EEA. The third section attempts to establish a connection
between migratory flows, integration policies and integration results in the EEA. This is achieved
by comparing the MIPEX results (MPG, 2015) from the area of labour force mobility and access
to citizenship to the statistical data of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Develop-
ment and the EU (OECD/EU, 2015) Indicators of immigrant integration that deal with the employ-
ment and unemployment rates of TCNs and rights to citizenship acquired. The main research
questions in this article are as follows:
1. How do the analysis and comparison of integration policies and integration outcomes in the
groups of various immigration countries explain certain integration patterns in the EEA?
2. Could the integration policies and integration results of individual countries be compared
using the same criteria in respect to their different migratory experiences, patterns and flows?
3. Should the level of development of integration policies be compared to one another, should
they be standardised, and what are the pitfalls of such a comparison?
On integration models and policies –what is questionable?
An increasing number of researchers are calling into question the classic models of citizenship and
national models of immigrant integration (Favell, 1998; Freeman, 2004; Joppke, 2007). Finotelli
and Michalowski (2012) emphasize that most of the arguments against the use (or at least limited
use) of these models is directed at the ways they operate in practice. The same authors condense
the main ideas stemming from criticism of classic integration models and citizenship models into
several main points. The first type of criticism is the perception that these models are too static and
fail to account for changes that occur over time. Criticism in this case is mainly aimed at the fact
that it is impossible to identify with and permanently “bind”a certain country to a certain model.
This line of criticism is bolstered by the unexpected liberalization of the German citizenship model
after 1999 (Howard, 2008). This criticism further pertains to a national model of citizenship that
has become impractical due to the fact that an ever increasing level of alignment (convergence)
with supranational codes and standards is expected of it, as is emphasized by Soysal (1998), Sassen
(1998) and Faist (2000). This harmonization of policy observed in all EU countries brings into
106 Gregurovi
c and
Zupari
c-Ilji
c
©2018 The Authors. International Migration ©2018 IOM
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