How Europe can Benefit from Immigration-Related “Diversity” – a Policy Paper

Abstract

This article is based on a selection of the findings and insights emerging from “DIVERSE,” diversity improvement as a viable enrichment resource for society and economy, a research-project realized with the aim of contributing to “reinvent” the European migrants’ integration model, in order to sustain both the positive interethnic coexistence and the long-term development of European societies. Implemented from January 2014 to June 2015 in 10 EU countries – Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden –, characterized by very different migration experiences, the project had identified three major levers to maximize migrants’ potential contribution: (1) enhancing the recognition of migrants’ skills, knowledge and competences (here after: SKC); (2) promoting the awareness of the advantages provided by the implementation of diversity management (here after DM) practices; (3) improving migrants’ civic and voluntary involvement. After a presentation of the theoretical premises on which the project was based (Sections 1–2) and the description of the project activities (Section 3), the article will focus on both the major impacts and the critical insights emerged in relation of each lever (Section 4); finally, it will develop some policy implications in order to make these levers crucial components of a wider strategy aimed at benefiting from immigration-related “diversity,” reinforcing both the economic competitiveness and the social cohesion of European society (Section 5).

How migration policies moderate the diffusion of terrorism

“…The United Nations Population Division (UN DESA, 2015) suggests that the global population of international migrants, i.e., people residing in a country other than their country of birth, has more than doubled since the year 2000 to about 244 million by 2015. Permanently moving to another country o↵ers valuable opportunities and gains for both migrants and their host societies (see, e.g., Boubtane and Dumont, 2013;Dustmann and Frattini, 2014;Zanfrini, 2016;Hainmueller, Hangartner and Pietrantuono, 2017), but states can also experience a number of di culties when trying to manage large numbers of migrants. Especially relevant to this research, there is a considerable body of work suggesting that population movements may have security implications for receiving countries (e.g., Algan et al, 2013;Bloemraad, Korteweg and Yurdakul, 2008;Hainmueller, Hangartner and Pietrantuono, 2017).…”

International Migration and Military Intervention in Civil War

“…Given the global dimension of this phenomenon, it is not surprising that scholars have been and continue examining the economic and political consequences of migration for both the destination state and the migrant’s country of origin. For instance, there is a well-established body of economic literature on the impact of migrants on wages, employment, or public spending (for an overview, see e.g., Constant and Zimmermann 2013; Zanfrini 2016). Other studies focus on migrants’ efforts to democratize authoritarian regimes in their homeland (Shain 1999), or their capacity to make resources available to support state or non-state actors in armed conflicts (Smith and Stares 2007).…”