Accommodation and new hurdles: The increasing importance of politics for immigrants' access to social programmes in Western democracies

Abstract

Although immigrants' place in welfare state systems is of large relevance to academics and policymakers alike, there have been few attempts to compare immigrants' social rights in different countries at different moments in time systematically. This article presents the results from a comparative policy analysis that maps immigrants' access to seven different social programmes, in 20 different Western democracies, at four different points in time. The main findings are threefold. First, there are large differences in the extent to which different welfare states differentiate in benefit extension between immigrants and native‐born citizens. Second, over the last two decades, many countries have adjusted their welfare systems with the specific aim to accommodate immigrants, whereas many have also introduced punitive barriers that require immigrants to satisfy additional requirements. Third, these developments seem largely driven by politics: in particular, the adoption of punitive barriers has been more common in places where the political climate is more hostile to immigrants. These findings raise important questions about the future of social protection in an era of cross‐border mobility.

Migrants and social policy: shifting research agendas

“…Among the EU citizens of working age, 3.3 per cent resided in an EU country other than that of their citizenship in 2019 (Eurostat, 2020). Therefore, the topics of migration and social policy are at the top of the political agenda, and many countries have developed policies to deal with this intersection between migration and social policy (Breidahl, 2017;Koning, 2020;Gschwind, 2021).…”

“…In this edited volume, social policy is defined as 'an institutionalized response to social and economic problems' (Béland, 2010: 9). Examining social policies in relation to migration and integration therefore raises crucial questions about the rights of migrants within this institutionalized response, the inclusiveness of social protection systems, and how the conditions migrants are facing shape their life conditions (Koning, 2020;Gschwind, 2021). These topics lie at the heart of the social policy discipline as they lay the foundation for migrants' social citizenship, granting entitlement to social rights that guarantee a basic level of socio-economic and cultural wellbeing (Marshall, 1950).…”

Choose your battles: How civil society organisations choose context‐specific goals and activities to fight for immigrant welfare rights in Malaysia and Argentina

“…Existing literature has identified welfare institutions, political parties, but also courts and civil society actors as relevant explanatory factors for exclusion and inclusion of immigrants in systems of social protection (see, e.g., Sainsbury, 2012; Römer, 2017; Schmitt & Teney, 2019; Koning, 2020). These studies, however, tend to be focused on the Global North.…”

“…5 5 For the importance of welfare state regime/generosity to explain variation in immigrant welfare rights (see e.g., Koning, 2020; Römer, 2017; Sainsbury, 2012). All of these studies are, however, limited to countries in the Global North. …”

“…Heurlin (2010) conceptualises incorporation and repression as two distinct strategies, but one could argue that a mixture of both could be employed 5. For the importance of welfare state regime/generosity to explain variation in immigrant welfare rights (see e.g.,Koning, 2020;Römer, 2017;Sainsbury, 2012). All of these studies are, however, limited to countries in the Global North 6.…”