Perspectives on European Immigration Policies
| Author | Fabio Franchino |
| Published date | 01 September 2009 |
| Date | 01 September 2009 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1465116509337835 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Perspectives on European
Immigration Policies
Fabio Franchino
University of Milan, Italy and Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy
ABSTRACT
Three books studying European immigration from the
perspectives of economics, political science and sociology
reach different conclusions on some key aspects of this
policy. I suggest three avenues for future research. First,
there is a need to develop institutionally richer political
economy models of migration to examine the conditional
nature of state control over immigration. Second, case
selection bias in assessing the legacy of immigration for
nationality laws should be redressed starting with a more
encompassing theory of policy reform. Third, the impact
of national welfare policies on the mode of integration of
immigrants in the receiving countries could be a promising
area of investigation. I illustrate this using employment
protection legislation and family policies.
403
European Union Politics
DOI: 10.1177/1465116509337835
Volume 10 (3): 403–420
© The Author(s), 2009.
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KEY WORDS
interdisciplinarity
migration
nationality law
state control
welfare state policies
There is considerable benefit in comparing and contrasting how different
social science disciplines study the same phenomenon. Sometimes they
complement each other neatly, providing a fuller understanding of the object
under investigation. Much more interestingly, other times they widely
diverge in their conclusions, generating stimulating puzzles and allowing us
to explore avenues to overcome these differences in a truly Kuhnian sense.
In this contribution, I rely on three books as a reference and an excuse to
compare and contrast three approaches to the study of immigration in
Europe.1These books are Anthony Messina’s The Logics and Politics of Post-
WWII Migration to Western Europe, published in 2007; Carl-Ulrik Schierup, Peo
Hansen and Stephen Castles’ Migration, Citizenship, and the European Welfare
State: A European Dilemma (2006); and Alessandra Venturini’s volume on
Postwar Migration in Southern Europe, 1950–2000: An Economic Analysis (2004).
These books speak predominantly to the core interests of their own disciplines
but they also talk to each other to a considerable extent, without fully
acknowledging it.
As one reviewer puts it, Messina is a ‘veteran observer of European
politics’. His book is the latest contribution in a long series of publications on
this topic. Central in his work is state power, the pinnacle of many political
scientists’ research, which here is decoded as the ability of states to control
immigration. The measures regulating immigration flows at the national
level, specifically in the UK and Germany, and at the supranational EU level
are studied in two empirical chapters. Additionally, Messina assesses the
impact of postwar immigration on domestic policies, such as citizenship and
nationality laws, multicultural and minority policies and welfare state
policies. He also analyses the extent to which anti-immigration groups have
managed to shape immigration policies and the incorporation of immigrants
into the political institutions of the immigrant-receiving countries.
As a labour and political economist, Venturini has studied the economics
of immigration for the past 20 years. Her book offers three noteworthy contri-
butions. First, she assesses the explanatory power of three contending theories
on the choice to migrate: a gravitational model, Todaro’s (1969) expected
income model and the migratory chain model (e.g. Massey et al., 1993; Sassen,
1988). The second contribution is a comprehensive overview and systematic
assessment of the literature on the effects of international migration on labour
market performance, particularly wages, native employment levels, economic
growth and social expenditure. Finally, Venturini concludes with an assess-
ment of the effectiveness of immigration policies.
The book by Schierup, Hansen and Castles, political sociologists of work,
migration and ethnic studies, examines the interactions between, on the one
hand, immigration policies and ethnic relations and, on the other, welfare
European Union Politics 10(3)
404
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