| Review of: | European migration policies in flux: changing patterns of inclusion and exclusion by Christina Boswell |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | Andrew Geddes |
| Reviewed in: | International Affairs |
| Date accepted online: | 27/07/2004 |
| Published in print: | Volume 80, Issue 2, Pages 367-414 |
Europe
States and their borders make international migration visible. What effect, then, do changes in social and political relations within European states and changed relations between them (such as European integration) have on responses to international migration? These questions are the focus of this excellent analysis of European migration policy and politics, which explores debates in three key European immigration countries (Germany, the UK and Italy). The book accounts for policies that seek to regulate the movement of people, as well as those concerned with the 'integration' of Europe's settled migrant populations. These developments are then placed in international context. The book is concerned with the capacity of European states to exercise inclusion and exclusion at their borders, with the ability of key social institutions, such as the welfare state, to include immigrant newcomers and with the emergence of new supra- and international venues for the formulation of responses to international migration.
The book's analysis is located in the recent reorientation of European migration policies in a more positive direction through schemes to attract (mainly) skilled migrant workers. This opening to labour migration has been motivated by concerns about population change and its effects on labour markets and welfare states. Boswell shows that the argument that 'Europe needs immigrants' has acquired a stronger purchase across Europe, but is far from being universally accepted. Indeed, a contentious politics of migration has re-emerged with liberal approaches encountering some opposition with the potential then for the emergence of what Boswell calls a 'populist gap' whereby those such as Umberto Bossi's
Current deliberations about labour migration can be seen as being indicative of the ways in which migration in its various forms impinges directly on perceptions of needs, resources and values. Yet it's also worth reminding ourselves that the scale of international migration remains relatively small. Despite some overblown claims about the openness of European countries, there remains a formidable capacity to exclude. In this situation then international migration can be understood as a cipher or, as Ulrich Beck has put it, a lightning rod, through which broader anxieties about social and economic change are represented. For instance, debates about the future of the welfare state in Germany, the UK and Italy have focused on state capacity to make good the expectation of social integration implicit within the Marshallian conceptualization of citizenship. Because of its scale (between 2.5 and 3 per cent of the EU population are non-EU migrants) then migration is necessarily on the fringes of these debates. That said, the polemics can be at their most intense when immigrant newcomers are concerned. Migration thus comes to represent broader concerns about social and economic change. This book is particularly good at picking up on these dilemmas and relating international migration to the organization of political, economic and social life in the three countries.
Boswell rightly identifies the flux within which migration policies seem now to be immersed. Much of this uncertainty about the future direction of policy does seem linked to a polarization of the debate and the difficulty for states to formulate policies that fit with the needs of sending and receiving states, while also according with the international framework established to protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. No clear and easy solution to these dilemmas is in sight. Indeed, the 'populist gap' can hinder the potential for the development of policies that steer a difficult course balancing the needs, values and resources of receiving states with those of sending countries, while also strengthening international capacity to resolve issues that are clear manifestations of interdependence between states. That said, the book also shows that-despite claims about 'fortress Europe'-policy outcomes have often been more liberal than public opinion, while liberal norms within bureaucratic and judicial arenas have served to mitigate some of the more draconian populist excesses.
The book's analysis of developments in Germany, the UK and Italy is placed in the context of three potential migration scenarios. The first is the blocking of liberalizing reforms to match labour migration to market needs, which seems unlikely. The second is the acceptance of more liberal labour migration policies with positive knock-on effects for other forms of migration. The third is a starker differentiation between 'wanted' and 'unwanted' migration flows based on perceived economic benefits to receiving states. Boswell argues that these scenarios will be tempered by 'ideologies of immigration' in European countries. Yet, if current distinctions between 'good' labour migration and 'bad' asylum seeking continue, then it seems-to this reader at least-that the third scenario seems the most likely outcome.
In its final chapter the book turns to the emerging international framework through which European states have sought to manage their response to international migration. The aspiration to create a common European policy, as well as the development of other bilateral and multilateral ties with migration components, is indicative of the ways in which migration has become part of the relation between European states, the EU and their neighbours. This then imparts a foreign policy dimension to international migration, which is distinct from the more structured post-colonial or guestworker flows of the 1950s and 1960s.
The particular strength of this book is that it guides the reader through the debate in the three countries in such a way that the broader issues at stake become very clear. It also pinpoints the specific political constellations that have developed around migration in each of the countries and at international level. It will serve as an indispensable guide to the issues that animate European migration policy and politics. It will be required reading for those who wish to put polemical excesses to one side and to understand what is at stake when the future of European migration policy is discussed.