Randall Hansen

Markets against politics: Migration, EU enlargement and the idea of Europe

This article examines new migration to Europe in the context of EU enlargement and debates about fortress Europe, framing the general agenda for the papers that follow in this special issue. We argue that the (normatively informed) image of fortress Europe is an inadequate account of migration and migration policy in Europe in three respects: the movement of family members, asylum-seekers and labour migrants has been substantially positive; enlargement itself generates dynamics of inclusion as much as exclusion; and there exists a significant component of intra-European circulatory migration. Against the fortress account, the article offers a market-driven analysis of new migration to Europe. In developing this account, we stress how existing theoretical accounts of immigration policy - dominated by a state-centred institutionalist and political focus - offer at best only partial explanations of the new European migration scenario. Both neo-liberal and older Marxian theories of the international immigration labour market need to be re-introduced to explain the selective, expansive and reconfiguring effect of market forces on European immigration policies. Our aim is to underline how new tendencies in East-West migration in Europe challenge and transform the traditional migrant trajectory from migrant to citizen that lies at the heart of state-centred accounts.

Asylum Policy in the West: Past Trends, Future Possibilities

This article examines the policy responses of Western countries in the realm of asylum. We begin by explaining the reasons why the asylum issue has made its way up the political agendas of liberal democratic countries in recent years. While applications for asylum have risen in the last two decades, we also highlight the way rights-based constraints and financial costs have contributed to controversy around the issue. We then examine in detail the major policy responses of states to asylum, grouping them into four main categories: measures aiming to prevent access to state territory, measures to deter arrivals, measures to limit stay, and measures to manage arrival. Moving then to explore the efficacy of these measures, we consider the utility of policy making from the viewpoints of states, asylum seekers and refugees, and international society. The article concludes with the presentation of four new directions in which policies could move in order better to square the professed interests of Western states with the needs of refugees for protection.

The Two Faces of Liberalism: Islam in Contemporary Europe

This article addresses long-standing normative claims that liberalism—understood as the priority of economic and political liberty, neutrality in the public sphere, the universal application of human rights, and the requirement to treat all subjects equally—is inadequate in the context of deep, migration-driven diversity. Beginning with the assumption that liberalism-as-an-integration-paradigm must be evaluated empirically, the article examines the immigration experience of two liberal states: France and the United States. Evidence from these important countries of immigration demonstrates that universal, difference-blind policies that are suspicious of claims to difference in the public sphere reduce prejudice and promote positive intra-community attitudes (France), while limited income support and dynamic labour markets promote economic integration (the United States). Far from being an inadequate relic of a simpler age, liberalism is the best framework for accommodating diverse societies.

Tensions of refugee politics in Europe

Electoral, welfare-state, and demographic politics are obstacles to refugees Globally, there are at least 65 million displaced persons, made up of 41 million internally displaced persons (those fleeing violence and/or persecution within their states borders), 21 million refugees (those fleeing persecution beyond those borders), and 3 million asylum seekers (1). Europe is not bearing the main brunt of the refugee crisis. Roughly 85% of the worlds refugees today are in the global South, and half of them are in countries with a per capita Gross Domestic Product of less than U.S.

After the Escape: Physical Abuse of Offspring, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and the Legacy of Political Violence in the DPRK

5000 (2). The continent is nonetheless in the center of a political and social storm from the roughly 1,255,600 people who applied for asylum in the European Union (EU) in 2015 (3).

Immigration and Citizenship

What is the relationship between victimization by political violence against women in North Korea and later physical abuse of offspring? This article examines the relationships between victimization by political violence, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol abuse/dependence, and abuse of offspring after arrival in South Korea. A random sample of 204 female North Korean defectors was used to test hypotheses. An oral history conducted with a survivor of North Korean political violence is provided in an appendix to contextualize the results. Analyses established a significant link between previous victimization by political violence and abuse of offspring but not mediation by either PTSD or alcohol abuse/dependence.