Turning round the telescope. Centre-right parties and immigration and integration policy in Europe

This is an Author's Original Manuscript of 'Turning round the telescope. Centre-right parties and immigration and integration policy in Europe', whose final and definitive form, the Version of Record, has been published in the Journal of European Public Policy 15(3):315-330, 2008 [copyright Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi.org/10.1080/13501760701847341

Immigrant community integration in world cities

As a consequence of the accelerated globalization process, today major cities all over the world are characterized by an increasing multiculturalism. The integration of immigrant communities may be affected by social polarization and spatial segregation. How are these dynamics evolving over time? To what extent the different policies launched to tackle these problems are working? These are critical questions traditionally addressed by studies based on surveys and census data. Such sources are safe to avoid spurious biases, but the data collection becomes an intensive and rather expensive work. Here, we conduct a comprehensive study on immigrant integration in 53 world cities by introducing an innovative approach: an analysis of the spatio-temporal communication patterns of immigrant and local communities based on language detection in Twitter and on novel metrics of spatial integration. We quantify the "Power of Integration" of cities --their capacity to spatially integrate diverse cultures-- and characterize the relations between different cultures when acting as hosts or immigrants.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures + Appendi

‘A Tale of Two cities: Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Their Immigrants’

Contains fulltext : 231876.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access

Framing immigration and integration: Relationships between press and parliament in the Netherlands

This article examines how the salience and framing of political issues in the press and in parliament influence each other and how this salience and framing is influenced by key events outside the media and parliamentary realms. The case focused on is the debate on immigration and integration in the Netherlands between 1995 and 2004. The empirical analyses are based on a computer-assisted content analysis of both parliamentary documents and newspaper articles. Results show bidirectional causal relationships between media and parliament. In the case of salience only long-term influence relationships are found, while framing influences follow an interesting pattern: an increase in the use of a frame in one arena leads to an increase in the other arena only if this frame has already been used regularly in the latter arena. External events have more considerable and consistent impact on issue salience and framing in both arenas. Copyright © 2007 Sage Publications

Monitoring international migration flows in Europe. Towards a statistical data base combining data from different sources

The paper reviews techniques developed in demography, geography and statistics that are useful for bridging the gap between available data on international migration flows and the information required for policy making and research. The basic idea of the paper is as follows: to establish a coherent and consistent data base that contains sufficiently detailed, up-to-date and accurate information, data from several sources should be combined. That raises issues of definition and measurement, and of how to combine data from different origins properly. The issues may be tackled more easily if the statistics that are being compiled are viewed as different outcomes or manifestations of underlying stochastic processes governing migration. The link between the processes and their outcomes is described by models, the parameters of which must be estimated from the available data. That may be done within the context of socio-demographic accounting. The paper discusses the experience of the U.S. Bureau of the Census in combining migration data from several sources. It also summarizes the many efforts in Europe to establish a coherent and consistent data base on international migration. The paper was written at IIASA. It is part of the Migration Estimation Study, which is a collaborative IIASA-University of Groningen project, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The project aims at developing techniques to obtain improved estimates of international migration flows by country of origin and country of destination

Friends or foes? migrants and sub-state nationalists in Europe

How do sub-state nationalists respond to the growing presence of cultural diversity in their ‘homelands’ resulting from migration? Sub-state nationalists in Europe, in ‘nations without states’ such as Catalonia and Scotland, have been challenging the traditional nation-state model for many decades. While the arguments in favour of autonomy or independence levelled by these movements have become more complex, sub-state nationalist movements remain grounded by their perceived national community that is distinct from the majority nation. Migration to the ‘homeland’ of a sub-state nation, then, presents a conundrum for sub-state elites that we label the ‘legitimation paradox’: too much internal diversity may undermine the claim to cultural distinctiveness. We engage with three common intervening variables thought to influence how sub-state nationalists confront the ‘legitimation paradox’: civic/ethnic nationalism, degree of political autonomy, and party competition. Our overarching argument is that none of these factors have a unidirectional or determinate effect on the sub-state nationalism-immigration nexus, which is why the nuanced case studies that comprise this Special Issue are worthwhile endeavours

The Influence of Education and Socialization on Radicalization: An Exploration of Theoretical Presumptions and Empirical Research

Background and Objective: Research into radicalization does not pay much attention to education. This is remarkable and possibly misses an important influence on the process of radicalization. Therefore this article sets out to explore the relation between education on the one hand and the onset or prevention of radicalization on the other hand. Method: This article is a theoretical literature review. It has analyzed empirical studies-mainly from European countries-about the educational aims, content and style of Muslim parents and parents with (extreme) right-wing sympathies. Results: Research examining similarity in right-wing sympathies between parents and children yields mixed results, but studies among adolescents point to a significant concordance. Research also showed that authoritarian parenting may play a significant role. Similar research among Muslim families was not found. While raising children with distrust and an authoritarian style are prevalent, the impact on adolescents has not been investigated. The empirical literature we reviewed does not give sufficient evidence to conclude that democratic ideal in and an authoritative style of education are conducive to the development of a democratic attitude. Conclusion: There is a knowledge gap with regard to the influence of education on the onset or the prevention of radicalization. Schools and families are underappreciated sources of informal social control and social capital and therefore the gap should be closed. If there is a better understanding of the effect of education, policy as well as interventions can be developed to assist parents and teachers in preventing radicalization. © 2011 The Author(s)