The European Commission as a policy entrepreneur in European migration policy making

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Menz
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Policy Entrepreneur ◽  
Venue Shopping ◽  
European Immigration ◽  
Core Characteristics ◽  
European Migration ◽  
Do So

European immigration policy making has often been characterized either as a largely spill-over driven process or as “venue shopping,” a way to escape from the confines of national capitals. This article suggests that success in policy creation hinges crucially on the presence of a policy entrepreneur; while the European Commission faced propitious conditions for acting in this fashion, it did not always manage to do so. Drawing on the creation of key directives on asylum and labor migration as empirical case studies, the argument is developed that only when the European Commission exhibits the core characteristics of successful policy entrepreneurs does it succeed in shaping migration directives. Spanish La formulación de la política migratoria europea a menudo se ha caracterizado ya sea como un gran proceso conducido por el desborde (“spillover”), o como un lugar de escape (“venue shopping”) de los confines de capitales nacionales. Este artículo sugiere que el éxito en la creación de políticas se basa esencialmente en la presencia de un emprendedor político, y mientras que la Comisión Europea enfrenta condiciones propicias para actuar de esa manera, no siempre logra hacerlo. Sobre la base de la creación de directivas centrales sobre asilo y migración laboral como casos empíricos de estudio, el argumento se desarrolla cuando la Comisión Europea presenta las características esenciales de un emprendedor político y logra éxitos en la conformación de las directivas de migración. French L'élaboration de la politique migratoire européenne a souvent été caractérisée comme un processus piloté par spillover ou encore comme « venue shopping » d'évasion aux confins des capitales nationales. Cet article suggère que le succès de l'élaboration d'une politique dépend crucialement de la présence d'un entrepreneur politique ; et que, bien que la Commission européenne ait eu des conditions favorables pour agir dans ce sens, elle ne l'a pas toujours fait. S'appuyant sur la création des directives clés en matière d'asile et de la circulation de la main-d'œuvre comme sur des études de cas empiriques, l'argument ici développé montre que ce n'est que lorsque la Commission européenne aura réuni avec succès les qualités de base relatives à l'entrepreneuriat politique qu'elle parviendra à modeler les directives européennes sur la migration

scholarly journals How party platforms on immigration become policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Tobias Böhmelt ◽  
Lawrence Ezrow
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Party Platforms ◽  
Legislative Activity ◽  
Do So

Abstract We focus on one of the most salient policy issues of our time, immigration, and evaluate whether the salience of immigration in governing parties’ manifestos translates into actual legislative activity on immigration. We contend that democratic policymakers have genuine incentives to do so. Furthermore, we argue that the country context matters for pledge fulfillment, and we find that the migration salience of governing parties’ manifestos more strongly translates into policy activity when the level of immigration restrictions is higher and when countries’ economies perform well. This research has important implications for our understanding of the relationships between economic performance, democratic representation and immigration policy making.

What’s in a name? ‘Refugees’, ‘migrants’ and the politics of labelling

Race & Class ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tazreena Sajjad
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Past ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
European Immigration ◽  
European Migration

Through a critical examination of European immigration policy and using the case of Afghan asylum seekers in the European continent, this article argues that the politics of labelling and the criminalisation and securitisation of migration undermine the protection framework for the globally displaced. However, the issue goes deeper than state politicking to circumvent responsibilities under international law. The construction of migrants as victims at best, and as cultural and security threats at worst, particularly in the case of Muslim refugees, not only assists in their dehumanisation, it also legitimises actions taken against them through the perpetuation of a particular discourse on the European Self and the non-European Other. At one level, such a dynamic underscores the long-standing struggle of Europe to articulate its identity within the economic, demographic and cultural anxieties produced by the dynamics of globalisation. At another, these existing constructions, which hierarchise ‘worthiness’, are limited in their reflection of the complex realities that force people to seek refuge. Simultaneously, the labels, and the discourse of which they are part, make it possible for Europe to deny asylum claims and expedite deportations while being globally accepted as a human rights champion. This process also makes it possible for Europe to categorise turbulent contexts such as Afghanistan as a ‘safe country’, even at a time when the global refugee protection regime demands creative expansion. Ultimately, the politics of European migration policy illustrates the evolution of European Orientalist discourse – utilised in the past to legitimise colonisation and domination, now used to legitimise incarceration and deportation.

Venue Shopping and Legitimacy: Making Sense of Harper's Immigration Record

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 817-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mireille Paquet ◽  
Lindsay Larios
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
The State ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Canadian Immigration ◽  
Venue Shopping

AbstractCanadian immigration policies went through numerous changes under the Conservative party leadership of Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2015. This article provides an empirical account of immigration policy change during this era and suggests that of state-centred venue shopping can effectively account for the Harper's immigration record. In particular, it documents the ways in which immigration policies have expanded into international and regional venues, opened new venues to non-state actors, further decentralized into subnational venues and reinvested into traditional administrative and executive venues for policy making. The analysis suggests that the redeployment of the state into new and expanding venues aims to demonstrate state capacity and legitimacy as a nodal actor in immigration policy.

Wspólnotowy wymiar polityki imigracyjnej Unii Europejskiej w obliczu wyzwań związanych ze zwiększonym napływem imigrantów w 2015 r.

2017 ◽  
pp. 82-107
Author(s):  
Michał Skorzycki
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Member States ◽  
European Immigration ◽  
New System ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Crisis Situations

The article comprises the overview of the essential legal, administrative and financial means that the EU has at its disposal in case of rapid influx of immigrants, as well as a selection of major obstacles to the use of these tools, based on observation of the activities of the EU and its member states taken up to deal with the aforementioned situation which took place in 2015. Using the abovementioned observation and an analysis of relevant documents, it is argued that the refugee crisis of 2015 has revealed the necessity of a profound institutionalisation of the European immigration policy as the most effective way to overcome difficulties in response to such situations. The analysis leads also to the conclusion that the EU is caught in a dilemma of either suspending the Dublin system in crisis situations or creating a new system of intensive support for border member states.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Migration ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Business Climate ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Skilled Migration ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Structural Drivers ◽  
Political Structures

This volume highlights the challenges of contemporary policymaking and scholarship on high-skilled migration. Both areas often focus rather narrowly on migration policy without considering systematically and rigorously other economic, social, and political drivers of migration. These structural drivers are often equally or sometimes even more important than migration policies per se. To be successful in recruiting on the global skill market, countries have to implement coherent whole-of-government immigration policy packages which are to be embedded in a country’s broader economic, social, and political structures and the broader context of international migration processes and dynamics. Societies and economies that are able to create a welcoming environment for people, attractive professional conditions for workers, and a business climate for employers are likely to succeed in attracting and recruiting skilled workers that are in demand. The chapter concludes with some proposals aimed at improving the efficiency of the global skill market.

Labor Migration and Climate Change Adaptation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
JAMIE DRAPER
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Labor Migrants ◽  
Acceptable Alternative ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
The Normative Question ◽  
Do So

Social scientific evidence suggests that labor migration can increase resilience to climate change. For that reason, some have recently advocated using labor migration policy as a tool for climate adaptation. This paper engages with the normative question of whether, and under what conditions, states may permissibly use labor migration policy as a tool for climate adaptation. I argue that states may use labor migration policy as a tool for climate adaptation and may even have a duty to do so, subject to two moral constraints. First, states must also provide acceptable alternative options for adaptation so that the vulnerable are not forced to sacrifice their morally important interests in being able to remain where they are. Second, states may not impose restrictive terms on labor migrants to make accepting greater numbers less costly for themselves because doing so unfairly shifts the costs of adaptation onto the most vulnerable.

Integration policies and threat perceptions following the European migration crisis: New insights into the policy-threat nexus

2021 ◽  
pp. 002071522110506
Author(s):  
David De Coninck ◽  
Giacomo Solano ◽  
Willem Joris ◽  
Bart Meuleman ◽  
Leen d’Haenens
Keyword(s):  
Integration Policy ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Threat Perceptions ◽  
Integration Policies ◽  
Migrant Integration ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Policy Threat ◽  
European Migration ◽  
Do So

The link between integration policies and intergroup attitudes or threat perceptions has received considerable attention. However, no studies so far have been able to explore how this relationship changed following the European migration crisis due to a lack of recent comparative policy data. Using new MIPEX data, this is the first study to examine mechanisms underlying the policy-threat nexus following the European migration crisis, distinguishing between several strands of integration policies, and realistic and symbolic threat. To do so, we combine 2017 Eurobarometer data with 2017 Migrant Integration Policy data, resulting in a sample of 28,080 respondents nested in 28 countries. The analyses also control for economic conditions, outgroup size, and media freedom. Multilevel analyses indicate that respondents living in countries with more inclusive integration policies in general report lower realistic and symbolic threat. When investigating different policy strands, we find that inclusive policies regarding political participation and access to nationality for immigrants are associated with lower realistic and symbolic threat. We compare our findings to those from prior to the European migration crisis and discuss the potential role of this crisis in the policy-threat nexus.

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