Beschreibung
The study of international migration underscores two principles of the
modern world and brings them forward for debate: the sovereignty of the
nation state on the one hand; and, an open world free of border control
and market constraints on the other. Volume II of the Yearbook
Migration
confronts basic concepts of international migration control through a
political theory lens. In contrast to pessimistic interpretations of a
global migration crisis and the “Fortress Europe” mind set the American
political scientist James F. Hollifield finds quite the opposite as he
emphasizes the liberalization of immigration policies among major
democracies throughout North America and Europe. According to Hollifield,
the expansion of civil rights and a general international liberalization
constitutes the basis for this process. Hollifield explains his
rights-based approach by tracing the civil rights revolution in the United
States coupled with the impact of the liberal German
Grundgesetz (Basic
Law) and subsequent European unification. Hollifield asserts that a
positive relationship between market orientated democracies and liberal
immigration policies do exist and, therefore, contribute to this continued
liberalization. The three major questions Hollifield poses centers around
control, sovereignty and incorporation. Following Hollifield’s analysis,
German political scientists Herbert Dittgen and Oliver Schmittke build on
this approach utilizing supporting data on the German case. German born
Karen Schönwalder challenges Hollifield’s thesis of republican
liberalization utilizing the British case as she highlights the politics
of exclusion in Britain. Karl Markus Kreis illustrates Hollifield’s
findings by underscoring the decline of ethnic identity among European
immigrants in the United States. Finally, the Turkish-American political
scientist Nedim Ögelman concludes this study by describing the dynamic of
the Latin-American communities and the role they play in speeding up the
naturalization process in the US.
In contrast to the widespread migration
pessimism and communitarian ideologies of exclusion, Volume II Yearbook
Migration contains empirical and theoretical analyses which emphasize
liberal dimensions of immigration.
Dietrich Thränhardt,
Prof. em., Universität Münster, Institut für Politikwissenschaft
