How to Understand Immigration Policy

• Published in: The Brown journal of world affairs 2013-10, Vol.20 (1), p.139-152
• Main Author: Skrentny, John D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Births; Citizenship; Conflict; Demographics; Economic development; Economic growth; Employers; Food; Foreign labor; Global Migration; Immigration policy; Liberalism; Migrants; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Noncitizens; Old age; Population aging; Reproductive health; Skilled workers; Welfare economics
• ISSN: 1080-0786; 2472-3347

Immigration policy is an increasingly important part of economic growth and development around the world because nearly all industrialized states face a set of common challenges relating to the sustainability of their economic growth and welfare states. These challenges include declining birth rates, aging populations, and workforces that have become more educated even as the low-skilled job sector, especially in services such as care of the elderly, cleaning, and food preparation, has grown. The nature of policy variation and the sources of conflict regarding immigration are less clear than today's demographic challenges. This article will show how people can understand both the variations and the conflicts regarding immigration policy by identifying the ways states mix together three different perspectives: the economic growth perspective, the rights liberalism perspective, and the traditional communities perspective. These perspectives will then be used to help understand policy variations and conflicts over time, between regions of the world, and between different targets of policies, namely the low- and high-skilled migrants.