Tag: European Union

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The Politicisation of Migration: Out Now

9781138852792I’m very happy to announce that the book The Politicisation of Migration is finally out! The book unites work from all researchers involved in the SOM project and examines how and to what extent immigration has become politicised in the seven SOM countries between 1995 and 2009. With a joint theoretical frame on politicization and de-politicization, the book goes beyond mapping variations across countries and time.

This edited volume addresses questions like: Why are migration policies sometimes heavily contested and high on the political agenda? And why do they, at other moments and in other countries, hardly lead to much public debate? The entrance and settlement of migrants in Western Europe has prompted various political reactions. We find that in some countries anti-immigration parties have gained substantial public support while in others migration policies have been hardly controversial.

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Attitudes against Foreigners in Switzerland

In a new survey we asked a representative sample of the Swiss population the degree they felt threatened by a series of neighbours. About a third reported no threat by any kind of immigrant neighbour we asked. Another third of the respondents indicted only mild discomfort, while the remaining third indicated considerable degrees of threat.

The stated threat by immigrants from the European Union was negligible and roughly on par with that by people from another region in Switzerland. By contrast, considerably more threat was reported for potential neighbours from South-Eastern Europe (Albania, Kosovo, Turkey).