Political and institutional determinants of immigration policies

Abstract

This paper investigates how the interplay of parties' preferences, political institutions and electoral competition affects the liberalisation of immigration policies. It joins a growing body of research that focuses on the role of domestic factors in shaping immigration policies. While several studies point to the important role of partisanship and the activation of public opinion, they fail to provide a clear mechanism that takes into account differences in parties' preferences as well as the institutional context they act in. By adding two crucial factors to the analysis, this paper presents a new framework for liberal change in the field of immigration politics. Political and Institutional Determinants of Immigration PoliciesTarik Abou-Chadi * tarik.abou-chadi@hu-berlin.de March 11, 2016This paper investigates how the interplay of parties' preferences, political institutions and electoral competition affects the liberalization of immigration policies. It joins a growing body of research that focuses on the role of domestic factors in shaping immigration policies. While several studies point to the important role of partisanship and the activation of public opinion, they fail to provide a clear mechanism that takes into account differences in parties' preferences as well as the institutional context they act in. By adding two crucial factors to the analysis, this paper presents a new framework for liberal change in the field of immigration politics. First, institutional veto points determine if left-of-center parties can reform policies according to their preferences. Second, the degree of electoral competition and the politicization of immigration issues affect how susceptible political parties are to the anti-immigrant sentiment in the population. A time-series cross-section analysis of 11 countries from 1980-2006 shows that left-of-center governments are more likely to pass liberal reforms, but only if they are not facing an open veto point. Moreover, increased levels of electoral competition coupled with a politicization of the immigration issue reduces the likelihood of liberal reforms.For helpful comments I would like to thank Christoffer Green-Pedersen, Marc Helbling, Ellen Immergut, Martin Kroh, as well as the editor and three anonymous reviewers.

Earning citizenship. Economic criteria for naturalisation in nine EU countries

“…In contexts of already liberal citizenship regimes, far-right parties may cause restrictive turns in citizenship policies (Goodman and Howard 2013). Similar approaches were taken in several studies, some of which confirm the effect of far-right power (Abou-Chadi 2016;Howard 2009;Koopmans, Michalowski, and Waibel 2012), but others do not (Akkerman 2012;Sredanovic 2016). In order to identify possible conditions for the success of far-right parties in terms of policy output, two possible specifications are investigated in this paper: First, the effect of far-right power may be delayed, for several reasons.…”

Beyond the Usual Suspects and Towards Politicisation: Immigration in Quebec’s Party Manifestos, 1991–2018

“…These effects, however, are not always durable and unfold in relation to the particulars of each political context. Demand-side explanations demonstrate that politicisation is not automatic or the direct consequence of ‘objective pressures’: it is the result of decisions by political actors and is strongly affected by political institutions and party competition, as well as media framing (Abou-Chadi 2016b ; Morales et al 2015 ).…”

Can Terrorism Abroad Influence Migration Attitudes at Home?

“…In this context, public opinion on migration is usually seen as a valuable barometer of the salience that citizens attach to this issue (e.g., Bélanger and Meguid ) and of the level of openness of native populations toward the arrival of foreign‐born individuals. Although the broader public is usually rather skeptical of immigration and migration influx (e.g., Abou‐Chadi ; Cornelius and Rosenblum ), growing concerns about immigration have in fact contributed to the recent success of reactionary nationalist parties at local and national elections in Europe (Davis and Deole ).…”

“…Even in a country with historically very open borders such as Sweden, a sudden shift in public opinion in the autumn of 2015 translated, “seemingly overnight,” into a significant reduction in the number of new immigrants, restrictions to existing immigration policies, and the deportation of a record number of people . Thus, public sentiment toward immigration can influence which parties assume power, shape states’ legislative outputs, and affect the way immigrants are integrated into receiving communities (see, e.g., Abou‐Chadi ; Helbling and Kalkum ; Koopmans and Michalowski ; Meyers ; Money ). As such, a comprehensive understanding of how and by which factors public opinion on immigration is formed is crucial for the effective design of immigration and integration policies.…”