Jeroen Doomernik

The Turkish and Moroccan second generation in the Netherlands: Divergent trends between and polarization within the two groups

This article examines the socioeconomic and sociocultural status of the second-generation Turkish young people in the Netherlands, comparing them to their Moroccan counterparts. The comparative perspective can better highlight the characteristic features of the Turkish second generation. The educational status of both the Turkish and the Moroccan young people is still weak, especially by comparison with their ethnic Dutch peers. The obstacles that second-generation migrants encounter in their educational careers are many and diverse, and these derive both from inside their own groups and from institutional structures and other forces in Dutch society. Among the latter has been the delay in introducing professional second-language training, which resulted in Dutch language deficiencies and poor primary school achievements. This, in combination with early school selection mechanisms at age 12, has consigned the vast majority of second-generation children to short, dead-end lower vocational or secondary school tracks. Unemployment is extremely high among the second-generation migrants with short educational tracks, and discrimination in the labor market hits this group especially hard. Despite all this, the number of second-generation young people who have succeeded in getting a better education is growing, and they are now well equipped to seek employment. An important factor in their success has been the mutual help and support they have received from family and community networks.

Modes of migration regulation and control in Europe

jeroen doomernik & michael jandl (eds.) This book draws the reader into the complex, often contradictory world of migration regulation. It covers the range of different policy approaches aiming to control migration in Europe – or, more precisely, the entry and residence of non-EU citizens in EU countries. As demonstrated by the authors of each chapter, the day a common migration policy can exist for the lasting benefit of all the Continent’s residents is still a long way off. Each country has its own highly idiosyncratic national policies. Policymakers get caught up in the trial-and-errors of increasingly intrusive and ineffective control measures. The framework of this ably edited volume, however, reveals that there are common tendencies and new policy convergences across the EU, and they are brought about less by design than by universal concerns. This could only mark the start to understanding the impact of migration and overcoming the challenges of integration.

Policies of exclusion and practices of inclusion: how municipal governments negotiate asylum policies in the Netherlands

Abstract There is a major gap in Dutch refugee and immigration control policies between its ambitions and outcomes. It results in considerable numbers of rejected asylum seekers who, while they cannot be expelled from the country, are excluded from government support and from opportunities to work in the belief this should encourage voluntary departure. Destitution and homelessness can often be the result, an outcome which poses problems in cities, creates a challenge for local government and triggers calls for political change from non-governmental actors. This article analyses the ways Dutch municipalities have developed practices to cushion and counteract aspects of such exclusionary national asylum policies, how these municipal actors justify these actions and how they thereby question the legitimacy of national policies and their execution. The analysis reveals the tensions that exist in the governance of migration through national policies and local practices. While not discounting the possibility that these actions and argumentations provide fuel to national political sentiments favouring the further exclusion of ‘irregular’ migrants, in this study we argue that at times they may also strengthen democratic policy-making and drive policy change.

Adaptation strategies among Soviet Jewish immigrants in Berlin

Abstract Since 1990 considerable numbers of Jewish emigrants have resettled in Germany, predominantly in Berlin. Under certain, not very stringent, conditions, persons with Jewish ancestry receive full refugee status and are entitled to all associated practical and financial assistance. Research reveals different categories of immigrants to have markedly different ways of dealing with their new surroundings and the support offered by German institutions. Some conform to the expectations of the German authorities and the Jewish Community whereas others show more or less deviant behaviour. The present article examines these different strategies from the dual perspective of the immigrants habitus and capital on the one hand, and the German context on the other. It is concluded that four types of immigrants may be discerned.

Local solutions for federal problems: immigrant incorporation in Montgomery County, Maryland

In this article, we analyze the role of local jurisdictions in regulating United States immigration, focusing on local policy responses to unauthorized migration in Montgomery County, Maryland. Important theoretical questions involve the conditions under which local policy responses, and their bureaucratic implementation, are inclusive or exclusive. Our findings indicate that perceptions of public safety are decisive. Consistent with other research on bureaucratic incorporation, our analysis indicates that bureaucratic practice can precede formal policy-making. Yet, this dynamic is not inherently inclusive, and can instead lead to exclusionary measures in order to protect against perceived threats to public safety.

The Uninvited Migrant, the ‘Autochtoon’ and the ‘Allochtoon’ in the Netherlands

Political integration often comes with a process of nation building. With European integration, old borders between member states indeed lose their meaning and only Europe’s outside borders remain significant. Yet, nation building on an EU scale is not in evidence. Rather integration seems to produce uncertain identities. However, failing a European identity at least it can be underlined who the ‘others’ are.

National Immigration and Integration Policies in Europe Since 1973

This chapter provides a historical review of the evolution of immigration and integration policies in Europe from 1973 up to now. It reconstructs the different challenges that migration flows have posed to European countries over the years and the policymaking responses developed accordingly. The chapter distinguishes three European migratory regimes: (i) North-Western Europe; (ii) Southern Europe; (iii) and Central and Eastern Europe. The diversity of migration policies adopted in each of these migratory systems is explained in relation to their geographical location, economic context, political history, and also notions of nationhood, national belonging and organization of government. Also integration policies are discussed, with the overall aim to clarify how the concept of integration has been used in policy formulation and policy practice in Europe. Furthermore, the chapter analyses the developments towards creation of a comprehensive European migration and asylum regime. Policymaking at the EU level has supplemented and sometimes challenged national policymaking in two main ways. First, the EU may subsidize local integration initiatives that would otherwise remain unfunded (e.g., by national governments). Second, EU mandates may limit objectives established at the national level that are at odds with EU law (e.g., restricting nations’ power to restrict the rights of third-country nationals). The main conclusion is that a convergence of migration and integration regimes in Europe is in clear evidence.

‘The Others’ in the Netherlands: Shifting Notions of Us and Them since World War II

An important ingredient of the invention of the Dutch nation has been the notion of religious pluralism culminating during the twentieth century in what Lijphart labelled a consociational democracy (Lijphart 1968). In effect, the nation contained parallel societies that existed next to each other, segregated to varying extents, without much interaction. Denominations (religious but also political, notably the social democrats) in this sense were self-contained; each with their own political representatives and other infrastructure like unions, hospitals, journals, newspapers and broadcasting media. In the case of the latter state funds were available on an equal footing for Roman Catholics, Protestants, the ‘socialist family’ and liberals. Education too was highly segregated, at least clearly demarcating the two dominant religions. Only relatively recently, the country’s two Catholic universities (in Nijmegen and Tilburg) were renamed to hide their religious origin. This era, in the Netherlands commonly referred to as ‘pillarisation’ or verzuiling came to its end with the assent of individualism in the 1960s and the 1970s. With few exceptions, the Dutch no longer consider it relevant whether their neighbours or colleagues are Socialist, Roman Catholic or Protestant, whereas earlier the social distances between these denominations had been virtually insurmountable, and so ‘the others’ that most Dutch people were most keenly aware of in those days of limited international travel were actually part of ‘us’ too.

Migrant Smuggling between Two Logics: Migration Dynamics and State Policies

Migration processes are driven by forces that are by their very nature difficult to address with government policies, especially when these are aimed at control and restriction. Yet, in response to domestic and international policies, governments, jointly and individually, seek to intervene forcefully in certain types of migration. Paradoxically, these interventions by and large go against the logic inherent in migration processes and thus have perverse effects: they do little to reduce migration and instead create a market for human smuggling. The thrust of current policy development is in the direction of further criminalisation. It is argued that this is not the most sensible course of action.

Going West: Soviet Jewish Immigrants in Berlin Since 1990

This study examines the recent Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union to Berlin, capital of the re-unified Germany. The study uses quantitative and qualitative research to evaluate the expectations of the immigrants and the adaption processes which they have to go through.