Transnational Migration and the Modern Democratic State: Familiar Problems in New Form or a New Problem?

Abstract

Migration to Western Europe in the past 20 to 25 years differs substantially in form and consequences from earlier large-scale population movements across national boundaries. The importation of temporary foreign workers on a modest scale—to meet labor shortages in arduous, low-status occupations—rapidly yielded massive political, economic, cultural, and international problems for the countries of in-migration. The temporary sojourn of mostly single males hired for specific jobs has been transmuted into the semi-settled presence of more than 15 million persons, most of whom are culturally very distinct from the host populations and are now dependents of the original migrants. Their protracted presence is explained in part by the economic and political attractiveness of the liberal welfare states, in part by the more limited opportunities in the countries of origin, and in part by the latter countries' policies. The host societies are strained by the new and substantial imported cultural diversity and the emergence of a socioeconomic and political underclass. The political ethos of the host countries and formal agreements with the sending countries preclude involuntary repatriation, and the myth of return associated with the semi-settled condition of the migrants militates against their assimilation. No ready solutions are apparent.