Last week I looked at the (lack of) convergence of immigration policies over time. Today, I examine whether indicators of political opportunity structure (POS) converge over time. We collected data to examine this as part of the SOM project (description of indicators).
In the following table I consider just a few indicators of POS. I include both issue-specific and generic aspects of POS for the seven countries covered in the SOM project (AT, BE, CH, ES, IE, NL, UK).
| Indicator | Convergence |
| Effective number of parties in legislature | No convergence |
| Seat-share of anti-immigrant parties | No convergence |
| Political parties have special arrangements for immigrant candidates | No convergence |
| Public money for immigrant organizations | No convergence |
| Specific department for migration | Clear convergence |
| Right to vote at national level, TCN | All countries the same |
| Embedded consultation | No convergence |
There is no convergence for most of the indicators considered here. There is only one real exception: we observe a clear trend to have a dedicated department for migration. In 1995 only Switzerland had such an organizational arrangement, in 2010 only Austria did not have one.
Didier Ruedin 