Saskia Bonjour

A proper wife, a proper marriage. Constructions of “us” and “them” in Dutch family migration policy.

Migration policy is a product and producer of identities and values. This article argues that discourses and policies on family reunification participate in the politics of belonging, and that gender and family norms play a crucial role in this production of collective identities, i.e. in defining who ‘we’ are and what distinguishes ‘us’ from ‘the others’. Tracing the development of political debates and policy-making about ‘fraudulent’ and ‘forced’ marriages in the Netherlands since the 1970s, the authors examine how categories of gender and ethnicity interact with ‘other’ transnational marriages and the women who engage in them. These practices of ‘othering’ legitimize restrictive reforms of marriage migration policies. Also, and no less importantly, they serve the symbolic function of defining Dutch identity, and show that the government protects this identity.

The Power and Morals of Policy Makers : Reassessing the Control Gap Debate

For more than 15 years, there has been a lively debate among migration scholars in Europe and North America about how to explain “why liberal states accept unwanted migration.” This paper assesses existent hypotheses in the “most-likely” case of the making of Dutch family migration policies. This empirical test raises serious doubts as to the validity of the broadly shared assumption that national policy makers have lost the power to regulate migration flows. Accounts that focus on the mechanisms of domestic politics do yield valuable insights, but fail to capture the crucial role of immaterial values in the decision-making process.

Between Integration Provision and Selection Mechanism. Party Politics, Judicial Constraints, and the Making of French and Dutch Policies of Civic Integration Abroad

Both the Netherlands and France have recently introduced civic integration abroad policies, which stipulate that family migrants are to learn about the language and customs of the host society, before being admitted to the country. The Dutch program however is much more stringent than the French. While France requires only participation in an evaluation and course that are organised and financed by the French state, the Dutch government has made entry conditional upon passing a test and does not offer courses. In this article, I propose two explanations for the significant differences between the modalities of the Dutch and French civic integration abroad programs. The first is related to party politics, that is to the positions adopted by political parties and the relations between them; the second to the different judicial constraints that weigh upon family migration policies in France and in the Netherlands.

Introduction Family Migration as an Integration Issue? Policy Perspectives and Academic Insights

“Family migration” and “integration” are intimately related concepts in policy discourses in Europe today. Assumptions about the relation between “family migration” and “integration” play a crucial role in shaping policies. This special issue aims to examine the axis between “family migration,” “policy,” and “integration,” both from a policy perspective, and from the perspective of individuals engaged in family migration. In this introduction, we first discuss scholarly work on family migration policies in Europe, which analyzes how policies and discourses on family migration and integration participate in the politics of belonging. Second, we explore the fragmented and incomplete insights offered by existing research about the actual relation between family migration and migrant integration.“Family migration” and “integration” are intimately related concepts in policy discourses in Europe today. Assumptions about the relation between “family migration” and “integration” play a crucial role in shaping policies. This special issue aims to examine the axis between “family migration,” “policy,” and “integration,” both from a policy perspective, and from the perspective of individuals engaged in family migration. In this introduction, we first discuss scholarly work on family migration policies in Europe, which analyzes how policies and discourses on family migration and integration participate in the politics of belonging. Second, we explore the fragmented and incomplete insights offered by existing research about the actual relation between family migration and migrant integration.

Fortress Europe or Europe of Rights? The Europeanisation of Family Migration Policies in France, Germany and the Netherlands

Abstract Are the restrictive reforms of family migration policy recently implemented in France, Germany and the Netherlands a result of the introduction of the Family Reunification Directive in 2003? Most existing literature on the Europeanisation of migration policies suggests that restriction-minded national governments shift decision-making to the EU level to escape domestic political and judicial constraints. However, as the Treaties of Amsterdam and Lisbon have empowered the Commission and Court to constrain restrictive reform, this perspective is losing analytical validity. Also, this perspective fails to capture the intensifying processes of policy transfer among Member States, which have inadequately been labelled ‘horizontal’ Europeanisation. We therefore propose a new, actor-centred analytical framework of Europeanisation. We show that contrasting yet parallel dynamics of Europeanisation may emanate from a single legislative instrument and may constrain and empower national governments at the same time.

Political Debates on Islamic Headscarves and Civic Integration Abroad in France and the Netherlands: What Can Models Explain?

This article evaluates the explanatory capacity of national models of migrant integration, through a comparative analysis of the regulation of Islamic headscarves on the one hand and civic integration abroad policies on the other hand, in both France and the Netherlands. It argues that national models—defined as historically rooted conceptions of nationhood, polity, and belonging—matter because they enable and constrain the framing of policy problems. However, the impact of national models on the policy outcome is determined by the political and institutional context in which decision-making takes place.

Ethnicizing citizenship, questioning membership. Explaining the decreasing family migration rights of citizens in Europe

Abstract Citizenship does not equal belonging. In this paper, we investigate how the disjunction between the ‘imagined community’ and the formal citizenry impacts on citizens’ rights. In particular, we analyse decision-making on the family migration rights of citizens in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Our analysis shows that in these three countries, notwithstanding their different migration and citizenship regimes, the reduction of citizens’ family migration rights is based on the same discursive mechanism: the ‘membership’ of citizens of migrant origin who marry a partner from abroad is called into question. As they are excluded from membership of the imagined community, their entitlement to family migration rights is decreased. Ethnic conceptions of national community, intersecting with gender and class, play a crucial role in shaping the rights attached to citizenship in Europe today.

The Transfer of Pre-departure Integration Requirements for Family Migrants Among Member States of the European Union

Over the last decade, six EU member states have introduced pre-departure integration requirements for family migrants. The Netherlands was the first to introduce such ‘civic integration abroad’ policies. Its example has been followed by Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, and the UK. While it is well established in the literature that the European Union has played a crucial role in the proliferation of these and similar mandatory integration policies, the question why and how these policies have spread through Europe has not been subjected to analytical scrutiny. This paper shows that while the EU has functioned as a platform for the exchange of ideas, EU institutions such as the Commission have strived to obstruct this process. The only actors promoting the transfer of pre-departure integration measures were national governments. For these governments, representing such measures as a ‘common practice’ among member states was a strategy to build legitimacy for restrictive reform.

Governing diversity: Dutch political parties' preferences on the role of the state in civic integration policies

This article analyses political debates about civic integration policies in the Netherlands, so as to identify different conceptions of the role of the state in ensuring social cohesion by governing diversity. Drawing on the literature on party systems, it presents an analysis of political party positions on the role of the state in civic integration along two dimensions: economic distribution on the one hand, and sociocultural governance on the other hand. I find that while the large majority of Dutch political parties adopt authoritarian positions on the sociocultural axis in favour of state intervention to protect Dutch culture and identity, their positions diverge significantly on the classic economic Left–Right dimension. The most contentious issue in Dutch civic integration politics is whether the state, the market or individual migrants should be responsible for financing and organising courses. Thus, this article proposes an innovative model for analysing the politics of citizenship, which enables us to comprehend how citizenship policies are shaped not only by views on how identity and culture relate to social cohesion, but also by diverging perspectives on socio-economic justice.

Beyond venue shopping and liberal constraint: a new research agenda for EU migration policies and politics

ABSTRACT European Union (EU) asylum and immigration politics and policies have witnessed a major change since their communitarization in the early 2000s. Studies on EU migration, however, do not agree on the impact that EU institutions now have on policy outputs and outcomes. While some argue that supranational institutions are able to impose ‘liberal constraints’ on member states, other studies consider them unable to shift the ‘policy core’ of EU migration policies. Many of these disagreements stem from unspecified theoretical assumptions and very different methods to assess influence and change. This research agenda demonstrates how drawing on new institutionalism and policy analysis literature can generate new insights in three important areas of migration policy research: the dynamics of preference formation of member states and EU institutions, the relative power and influence of member states and EU institutions, and their impact on the domestic politics and policies of member states.