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Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective
In the 1990s, immigration emerged as a central issue of public policy and a driving factor in democratic elections throughout the world. Modern democracies now all face the same questions: how many immigrants to accept, what rights and special services to provide them, and how to control illegal immigration.
This book provides a systematic, comparative study of immigration policy and policy outcomes in industrialized democracies. In-depth examinations of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan have been updated for the second edition, and new chapters on Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and South Korea have been added. Each profile addresses why certain immigration control measures were selected and why these measures usually failed to achieve their stated objectives. The discussion has been expanded to address the growing trend of migration of highly skilled professional workers, a particularly salient issue in the United States.
This book provides a systematic, comparative study of immigration policy and policy outcomes in industrialized democracies. In-depth examinations of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan have been updated for the second edition, and new chapters on Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and South Korea have been added. Each profile addresses why certain immigration control measures were selected and why these measures usually failed to achieve their stated objectives. The discussion has been expanded to address the growing trend of migration of highly skilled professional workers, a particularly salient issue in the United States.
560 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 5, 2019
A scholarly collection of studies from the 1990s on the issue of immigration as viewed primarily from western nations. Authors use primarily quantitative approaches to define the environment and then quantitative approaches in an effort to explain the potential mindsets of the players involved and how they might be shaped in the future.
My one takeaway quote:
“Researchers know that demand-pull, supply-push, and network factors explain much of today’s migration, but they do not know how to assign weights to these factors, nor can they link a policy measure that affects one of the factors with a specific level of reduction in immigration pressure. However, disaggregating the factors that motivate migration permits two generalizations:
First, even if demand and network factors each contribute one-third to overall migration pressure, it is clear that the immigration into industrial countries will remain high during the 1990s. Even if countries could eliminate the demand-pull factors over which they have direct control, two of the three factors would remain unchecked.
The second generalization is that the most important variables influencing migration tend to shift from government-approved demand-pull factors to supply-push and network factors. During the early stages of guestworker programs, analyses indicate that the number of newly admitted migrant workers can be perfectly explained by industrial-country labor market indicators. But once migration “takes a life of its own” - after supply-push and network factors become more important - governments and even mainstream businesses lament the apparent loss of immigration control. This feeling of having lost control often results when governments play catch-up.”
My one takeaway quote:
“Researchers know that demand-pull, supply-push, and network factors explain much of today’s migration, but they do not know how to assign weights to these factors, nor can they link a policy measure that affects one of the factors with a specific level of reduction in immigration pressure. However, disaggregating the factors that motivate migration permits two generalizations:
First, even if demand and network factors each contribute one-third to overall migration pressure, it is clear that the immigration into industrial countries will remain high during the 1990s. Even if countries could eliminate the demand-pull factors over which they have direct control, two of the three factors would remain unchecked.
The second generalization is that the most important variables influencing migration tend to shift from government-approved demand-pull factors to supply-push and network factors. During the early stages of guestworker programs, analyses indicate that the number of newly admitted migrant workers can be perfectly explained by industrial-country labor market indicators. But once migration “takes a life of its own” - after supply-push and network factors become more important - governments and even mainstream businesses lament the apparent loss of immigration control. This feeling of having lost control often results when governments play catch-up.”
June 6, 2007
If you are interested in immigration, this book can be a goldmine.
May 16, 2014
Great overview of immigration patterns with case studies in a number of different countries. Thankfully, it is not just a Western perspective, either. Emerging Asian countries are also included.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews