Han Entzinger

The Interplay of Knowledge Production and Policymaking: A Comparative Analysis of Research and Policymaking on Migrant Integration in Germany and the Netherlands

Abstract This article speaks to the broader literature on how policy analysis does more than just “speaking truth to power”. It focuses on the relation between policy setting and knowledge production, in particular on how the politicisation of migrant integration in Germany and the Netherlands has altered the interplay between knowledge production and policymaking. The analysis shows that the interaction between both worlds affects not just policymaking but also knowledge production. It nuances the hypothesis that in depoliticised settings the chances for the monopolisation of specific knowledge claims (or a “paradigm”) are greater whereas in politicised settings a fragmentation of knowledge claims and knowledge conflicts is more likely to occur.

The growing gap between facts and discourse on immigrant integration in the Netherlands

The Netherlands’ recent history of dealing with immigrant integration provides an excellent example of the dangers of thinking in terms of fixed ‘national’ integration models. When first confronted with large-scale immigration, the Netherlands embarked on a policy of multiculturalism. Its current approach is one of the most assimilationist in Western Europe: several in-between forms have also been tried out. This article describes the evolution of Dutch thinking and Dutch policy-making on immigrant integration over the past few decades, and it analyses why the country has switched so frequently from one model to another. The harsher approach of this moment can be explained neither by major shifts that might have occurred in public opinion, nor by the actual course of the immigrant integration process, which has been advancing steadily. The root causes of the growing gap between facts and discourse lie in popular anxiety provoked by profound changes in Dutch society.

Integrating Immigrants in Europe. Research-Policy Dialogues

1: Research-policy dialogues on migrant integration in Europe: A conceptual framework and key questions: Peter Scholten, Han Entzinger and Rinus Penninx.- PART I - FORMS AND FUNCTIONS OF RESEARCH-POLICY DIALOGUES: 2: Cultures of knowledge use in policymaking: The functions of research in German and UK immigration policy: Christina Boswell.- 3: Migration statistics in Europe: A core component of governance and population research: Albert Kraler, David Reichel and Han Entzinger.- 4: The coproduction of national models of integration: A view from France and the Netherlands: Christophe Bertossi, Jan Willem Duyvendak and Peter Scholten.- 5: Consultative commissions and the rethinking of integration policies in the Netherlands and Germany: The Blok Commission and the Sussmuth Commission compared: Jan Schneider and Peter Scholten.- 6: European cities in search of knowledge for their integration policies. Rinus Penninx.- 7: EU policymaking and research: Case studies of the Communication on a Community Immigration Policy and the Common Basic Principles for Integration: Sandra Pratt.- 8: Speaking truth to power? Why civil society, beyond academia, remains marginal in EU migration policy: Ann Singleton.- PART II - RESEARCH-POLICY DIALOGUES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND SEVEN OF ITS MEMBER STATES: 9: Research-policy dialogues in Austria: Maren Borkert.- 10: Research-policy dialogues in Italy: Tiziana Caponio.- 11: Research-policy dialogues in Germany: Friedrich Heckmann and Delia Wiest.- 12: Research-policy dialogues in the Netherlands: Stijn Verbeek, Han Entzinger and Peter Scholten.- 13: Research-policy dialogues in the United Kingdom: Alistair Hunter and Christina Boswell.- 14: Research-policy dialogues in Poland: Mikolaj Pawlak.- 15: Research-policy dialogues in Denmark: Martin Bak Jorgensen.- 16: Research-policy dialogues in the European Union: Andrew Geddes and Marthe Achtnich.- PART III - COMPARISON AND CONCLUSIONS: 17. Research-policy dialogues on migrant integration in Europe: Comparison and conclusions: Peter Scholten, Han Entzinger and Rinus Penninx.- Appendix I: Biographies of Authors.- Appendix II: Publications of the DIAMINT Project/IMISCOE Standing Committee on Research-Policy Dialogues.

Migration Statistics in Europe: A Core Component of Governance and Population Research

This chapter is about the role of statistics in the shaping of policies regarding migration and migrant integration. In the nineteenth century already states began to feel a need to register their residents so as to find out who qualify for certain entitlements and who do not, for example because they originate in another country. Population statistics were crucial in symbolically achieving this goal. Soon the need was felt for an international harmonisation of population statistics, particularly those related to international migration. It took very long, however, to achieve this goal at a European level, and even more so at a global level. Actually, major steps forward were not made until the 1990s, when intra-European migration increased rapidly after the end of the Cold War. The EU took on a coordinating role in this field, which led, in 2007, to the publication of the Statistics Regulation. In 2010, member states also reached an agreement on indicators for immigrant integration. Yet, this chapter argues that, in spite of increased harmonisation of statistics, a comparison of migration data between EU member states remains complicated, for example because of conceptual differences, differences in registration practices and in policies. This is even more so for a comparison of data on migrant integration. The available sources continue to be quite diverse, and differential policy objectives lead to persisting differences in what is actually being registered and what is not.

Research-policy dialogues on migrant integration in Europe: a conceptual framework and key questions

Europe has become a continent of immigration in the course of the last half century, and European societies have experienced growing ethnic and cultural diversity. Governmental actors have often made great efforts to collect and develop the knowledge and expertise to understand integration processes and to control and steer these. Major differences, however, exist between European countries in the way relations between policy and research on immigrant integration have evolved. In this first chapter three aspects of such research-policy dialogues are introduced. First, we look at concrete dialogue structures, formal or informal arrangements, such as advisory bodies, through which knowledge is exchanged. Secondly, we look at cultures and practices of knowledge utilization in policy processes. Thirdly, we look at cultures of knowledge production in the field of migration research itself. In this introductory chapter some main hypotheses are developed for each of these three aspects. These hypotheses will serve as guidance for the entire book. In Part I of the book forms and functions of research-policy dialogues will be further explored, mostly on a comparative basis. Part II analyses seven country cases plus the case of the European Union.

Research-Policy Dialogues in the Netherlands

The Netherlands was one of the first countries in Europe to formulate a coordinated national policy on migrant integration, in the early 1980s. In the 2000s, it was again among the first to make a sharp assimilationist turn away from the multicultural model. Much of the extensive ethnic monitoring structure set up in the 1980s and 1990s still exists, but the positivist belief in the role of scientific research as a tool for societal engineering in this area has clearly declined. Formal research-policy dialogue structures have been largely dismantled, and dialogues that continue to exist have become strongly politicised and mediatised. Knowledge use has become more selective and largely instrumental, mainly dictated be the needs of politicians. The analysis in this chapter also suggests that the combined politicisation and mediatisation of research-policy dialogues on migrant integration may have created a new boundary, one between mediatised and non-mediatised research-policy dialogues. Consequently, the old boundary between the two worlds of research and policy may have lost some of its relevance. At the same time, the growing apart of policymakers and the academic world has also facilitated the development of a more varied, and therefore much richer research landscape.

Integrating Immigrants in Europe

1: Research-policy dialogues on migrant integration in Europe: A conceptual framework and key questions: Peter Scholten, Han Entzinger and Rinus Penninx.- PART I - FORMS AND FUNCTIONS OF RESEARCH-POLICY DIALOGUES: 2: Cultures of knowledge use in policymaking: The functions of research in German and UK immigration policy: Christina Boswell.- 3: Migration statistics in Europe: A core component of governance and population research: Albert Kraler, David Reichel and Han Entzinger.- 4: The coproduction of national models of integration: A view from France and the Netherlands: Christophe Bertossi, Jan Willem Duyvendak and Peter Scholten.- 5: Consultative commissions and the rethinking of integration policies in the Netherlands and Germany: The Blok Commission and the Sussmuth Commission compared: Jan Schneider and Peter Scholten.- 6: European cities in search of knowledge for their integration policies. Rinus Penninx.- 7: EU policymaking and research: Case studies of the Communication on a Community Immigration Policy and the Common Basic Principles for Integration: Sandra Pratt.- 8: Speaking truth to power? Why civil society, beyond academia, remains marginal in EU migration policy: Ann Singleton.- PART II - RESEARCH-POLICY DIALOGUES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND SEVEN OF ITS MEMBER STATES: 9: Research-policy dialogues in Austria: Maren Borkert.- 10: Research-policy dialogues in Italy: Tiziana Caponio.- 11: Research-policy dialogues in Germany: Friedrich Heckmann and Delia Wiest.- 12: Research-policy dialogues in the Netherlands: Stijn Verbeek, Han Entzinger and Peter Scholten.- 13: Research-policy dialogues in the United Kingdom: Alistair Hunter and Christina Boswell.- 14: Research-policy dialogues in Poland: Mikolaj Pawlak.- 15: Research-policy dialogues in Denmark: Martin Bak Jorgensen.- 16: Research-policy dialogues in the European Union: Andrew Geddes and Marthe Achtnich.- PART III - COMPARISON AND CONCLUSIONS: 17. Research-policy dialogues on migrant integration in Europe: Comparison and conclusions: Peter Scholten, Han Entzinger and Rinus Penninx.- Appendix I: Biographies of Authors.- Appendix II: Publications of the DIAMINT Project/IMISCOE Standing Committee on Research-Policy Dialogues.

Research-policy dialogues on migrant integration in Europe: comparison and conclusions

This concluding chapter compares forms of research-policy dialogues on migrant integration in the seven European countries included in this book as well as at the level of the EU. It analyses how knowledge for these dialogues is being produced and how policymakers make use of it. This comparative analysis is guided by the question how the politicisation of the issue, which has become visible all over Europe now, has impacted on the development of such dialogues, on the use of knowledge in policymaking and on the production of knowledge for policy purposes. A key conclusion of this book is that research-policy dialogue structures are increasingly diverse in form, and do not follow any uniform or converging pattern. There is, however, a clear tendency among policymakers to use knowledge more symbolically than instrumentally. This means that knowledge serves more often to substantiate policy arguments and to legitimize policy actors rather than for the direct development of policies and their instrumentalisation. Also, knowledge production tends to become more diversified under politicised conditions.