Immigration and Politics in the New Europe: Reinventing Borders

Description

With almost a quarter of the world's migrants, Europe has been attempting to regulate migration and harmonize immigration policy at the European level. The central dilemma exposed is how liberal democracies can reconcile the need to control the movement of people with the desire to promote open borders, free markets and liberal standards. Gallya Lahav's book traces ten years of public opinion and elite attitudes toward immigration cross-nationally to show how and why increasing EU integration may not necessarily lead to more open immigration outcomes. Empirical evidence reveals that support from both elite and public opinion has led to the adoption of restrictive immigration policies despite the requirements of open borders. Unique in bringing together original data on European legislators and national elites, longitudinal data on public opinion and institutional and policy analyses, this study provides an important insight into the processes of European integration, and globalization more broadly.

Gallya Lahav is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, State University of New York at Stony Brook and Visiting Scholar at the Center for European Studies at New York University.

'... very detailed and empirically supported examination ... she provides a formidable explanation for attuning increased EU integration with a growing national level of influence in the immigration policy field ... Lahav's contribution to the academic study of immigration unquestionably provides a landmark for further research.' Journal of European Affairs