The Power and Morals of Policy Makers: Reassessing the Control Gap Debate

Abstract

For more than 15 years, there has been a lively debate among migration scholars in Europe and North America about how to explain “why liberal states accept unwanted migration.” This paper assesses existent hypotheses in the “most‐likely” case of the making of Dutch family migration policies. This empirical test raises serious doubts as to the validity of the broadly shared assumption that national policy makers have lost the power to regulate migration flows. Accounts that focus on the mechanisms of domestic politics do yield valuable insights, but fail to capture the crucial role of immaterial values in the decision‐making process.

Conceptualizing and measuring migration policy change

“…Or do we rather see a broad trend towards increasing inclusiveness in which, as hypothesized by several scholars, human rights considerations and international law have compelled liberaldemocratic states to expand possibilities for family and humanitarian migration (Bonjour 2011;Freeman 1995), in spite of restrictive migration discourses used by politicians suggesting the contrary? Or do we observe a more complex picture, with policies towards particular groups (such as asylum seekers or low-skilled labour migrants) becoming more restrictive, and less restrictive towards other groups (such as the high-skilled or students)?…”

The Effectiveness of Immigration Policies

“…But that brings us to the related question of whether it is possible to objectively determine the real intention of migration policy. As with most policies, migration policies are typically a compromise between multiple competing interests (Bonjour 2011;Boswell 2007;Boswell and Geddes 2011;Freeman 1995). For instance, while business associations typically favor more liberal immigration policies, trade unions have historically seen immigration as threatening the wages and interests of native workers, although more recently trade unions in several countries such as the US have become more favorable toward immigration, since migrants can also be seen as new constituencies.…”

“…Other migration researchers have countered such skepticism about the effectiveness of immigration policies by arguing that, on the whole, immigration policies have been effective and have in fact become increasingly sophisticated (Bonjour 2011;Brochmann and Hammar 1999;Geddes 2003). Broeders and Engbersen (2007) contended that the capacity of states to effectively implement immigration policies such as the detection of irregular migrants has increased.…”

Who Gets In and Why?: <i>The Swedish Experience with Demand Driven Labour Migration – Some Preliminary Results</i>

“…However, the control gap paradox is contested. For example, Bonjour (2011) makes strong arguments in her study on Dutch family migration policy that the state has the capacity to regulate migration flows and stocks. Zolberg (1981) even argued that the independent effects of state policies for controlling entry and exit can be measured.…”