Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS): Recent Episodes
Oxford University
The mission of COMPAS is to conduct high quality research in order to develop theory and knowledge, inform policy-making and public debate, and engage users of research within the field of migration. The mobility of people is now firmly recognised as a key dimension shaping society today, but the relationship between migration and societal change is only partly understood. Research at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), core funded by the Economic and Social Research Council is geared to deepen the understanding of this relationship.
Michael Collyer, University of Sussex, gives a talk for the COMPAS Hilary 2016 term Seminar Series entitled: Open the Way: Understanding the Refugee Crisis on 4th February 2016.
Heaven Crawley, Coventry University, gives a talk for the COMPAS Hilary term 2016 seminar seires; 'Open the Way: Understanding the Refugee Crisis' on 21st January 2016.
Melanie Griffiths, University of Bristol, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series. For academics, politicians and NGOs alike, the issues seen to relate to irregular migrants, especially if they are male, tend to revolve around questions of legality, criminality and mobility. Little concern is generally afforded to their emotional lives and wellbeing. Drawing on qualitative research conducted with UK-based precarious male migrants with British or EU citizen partners and children, this talk considers the effect of having family ties in the UK on the men’s experience of the immigration system, as well as the impact of immigration concerns on family life itself. A variety of repercussions are identified in relation to the formation and sustainability of partnerships and families, including in terms of suspicion over motives, the threat of enforced separation and other relationship strains. Particular attention is given to immigration detention and the prohibition of employment as examples of ways in which the immigration system reaches into the heart of family life and produce gendered implications for the men’s ability to be the parents and partners they wish to be. The talk also considers the wellbeing of the British and European women in mixed-citizenship couples, exploring the impacts of the immigration struggles of their loved ones on the women’s sense of security, privilege and belonging as citizens. Considering wellbeing in the context of relationships illuminates the significant and wide-ranging impact of the immigration system on family lives and gender roles. Laying bare the fallacy of migrant/citizen binaries, such impacts not only affect irregular migrants, but also the citizens close to them, who are not themselves subject to immigration control but whose lives are nonetheless shaped by immigration objectives.
Peter Dwyer, University of York, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series. Conditionality matters for migrants. First, in a broad sense i.e. the ways in which UK immigration and welfare policies intersect to establish and structure the diverse rights and responsibilities of different migrant groups living in the UK. Second, in respect of more focused understandings of welfare conditionality and the linking of an individual’s rights to social welfare benefits and services to specified behavioural requirements. This seminar explores how these two aspects of conditionality play out in migrants’ interactions with welfare agencies. Discussions will draw on early analysis of new qualitative data generated in first wave interviews with 54 migrants who are one cohort within a larger, repeat qualitative longitudinal panel study being conducted as part of the ESRC funded ‘Welfare Conditionality: Sanctions Support and Behaviour Change’ project (see www.welfarecondtionality.ac.uk)
Jonathan Darling, University of Manchester, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series. In this seminar I draw on my current research looking at how dispersal has worked across four UK cities historically, and how changes with the privatisation of provision has affected relations between asylum seekers and cities, between private providers and local authorities, and between local authorities and the Home Office. I will link to some of my past work around sanctuary, responsibility and generosity in terms of discussing spaces within cities that challenge the tensions of current governance structures and that enable different relations between asylum seekers and cities. Part of the story here is of the significance of local relations and contexts that are too readily ignored in top down dispersal processes and plans, so being able to speak across four different cities should enable some of these more hopeful stories to come to light.
Osea Giuntella, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series. Despite a lower average socioeconomic status, recent immigrants in many advanced economies have better health outcomes than the incumbent residents in the hosting countries. Paradoxically, this initial health advantage erodes with time spent in the destination country, despite immigrants’ socio-economic assimilation. In the talk I will discuss the role of selection, acculturation, socio-economic and occupational characteristics in explaining immigrants’ health trajectories presenting evidence from some of my recent work on migration and health in the US, UK, and Germany. Furthermore, I will examine different mechanisms through which immigration can have effects on the health of incumbent residents. First, immigration has important effects on the allocation of tasks and job-related risks in the labour market. Second, immigration can have effects on healthy behaviours by affecting both the demand and the supply of healthy products and by increasing product variety and access to healthy options in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
This paper uses a UK nationally representative data set to examine the extent to which family migration history helps explains inter-ethnic variations in subjective well-being. By Cinzia Rienzo, National Institute of Economic and Social Research [NIESR].
Rob McNeil, COMPAS, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the Immigration and democracy in the UK COMPAS Seminar Series. Rob McNeil looks at the nature of migration in the media and why it looks as it does. What is truth in this context? He also considers what that means from a policy perspective.
Claudio Sopranzetti, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series. This talk analyses the transformation of labor and internal migration structure in Thailand since the 1997 economic crisis. In particular it shows how, since the restructuring of the Thai economy along post-fordist lines, both processes have been re-organized through discourse and practices of "free" flexible labor. The speaker focus specifically on a group of informal urban workers: motorcycle taxi drivers who, as migrant workers from the provinces, allow Bangkok to function. While many of these migrants used to work in factories before the crisis, since then they have decided to join the ranks of "free" transportation entrepreneurs, gaining easier mobility between the city and their villages but also renouncing to social security and other services, not unlike millions of workers around the world. This talk analyses this process both in its emancipatory and exploitative dimensions to explore the duplicitous nature of mobility in contemporary Thailand.
Carlos Vargas Silva, COMPAS, University of Oxford, gives a talk for Immigration and democracy in the UK COMPAS Seminar Series. This talk analyzes the effects of immigration on access to health care in England. Linking administrative records from the Hospital Episode Statistics (2003-2012) with immigration data drawn from the UK Labor Force Survey, we analyze how immigrant inflows affected waiting times in the National Health Service. We find that immigration reduced waiting times for outpatient referrals and did not have significant effects on waiting times in Accident and Emergency (A&E) and elective care. However, there is evidence that immigration increased waiting times for outpatient referrals in more deprived areas outside London. These effects are concentrated in the years immediately following the 2004 EU enlargement and vanish in the medium-run (e.g., 3 to 4 years). Our findings suggest that these regional disparities are explained by both differences in the health status of immigrants moving into different local authorities and in natives’ internal mobility across local authorities.
Scott Blinder, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, gives a talk for the Immigration and democracy in the UK COMPAS Seminar Series. This talk reviews a wide variety of research findings on how migration functions as a political issue in today’s Britain, and how migration and migrants affect British political systems and outcomes. In the electoral context, I review evidence on how migration affected the 2010 election and how it is likely to affect the 2015 vote – both through impact on majority-group voters and on the increasing population of migrants and ethnic minorities who vote as well. Beyond this, I examine evidence on how migration has changed British politics, through shifts in the party system and erosion of trust in the political system itself.
Daniel Trilling, New Humanist Magazine, gives a talk for Shifting Powers, Shifting Mobilites COMPAS Seminar Series The world economic and financial meltdown and its social, economic and political aftermath have helped to consolidate and accelerate shifts in the global political economy, which in turn are re-shaping the global migration order, as emergent powers become increasingly important players on the world migration scene. Moreover, power is not only shifting socio-economically and spatially, but arguably its very nature is shifting too. This seminar series will explore how these shifts are playing out in three related spheres: the connection between mobility and politics (‘fight and flight’), global urban transformation, and the limits of governance. The series will open with three scene-setting sessions looking at recent shifts and shocks and the recent wave of protest and revolt, before moving on to consider how generation, class, gender and ethnicity play into the choices between moving and staying put, and between protesting, enduring and acquiescing in the face of adverse and threatening conditions.
Nicholas Simcik Arese, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series. As activists lament that the rights-based aims of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution feel increasingly distant, research is necessary on the documentation of ongoing social-justice struggles in Cairo, though they may not be framed as 'revolutionary' by participants themselves. In August 2010 and in February 2011, during the 18 days of Hosni Mubarak’s fall, a group of 231 resettled slum dwellers from the Duweiqa district of Cairo, abandoned their 23 square-meter allocated homes to squat live-able larger ones in Haram City, a budget gated community marketed by developers and development practitioners alike as a new best-practice "cooperative" public-private partnerships for low-income housing. In this forced 'arrival city', squatters leverage their foothold on vast expanses of empty houses to negotiate a return home. This paper traces their metaphorical use of rights-based language – aligning notions of moral 'rootedness' in property and place, outlaw discourse, and brokerage practices – outside of dominant legal and revolutionary norms, towards survival..
Kristen Biehl, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series. As of the late 1950s, Istanbul has maintained its position as Turkey’s leading arrival city for millions of internal migrants from all parts of the country, whose impact on the city’s changing physicality, diversity, imaginary and exclusions has been extensively researched within the field of Turkish urban studies. Over recent decades, however, a new form of migration composed of international migrant and refugee flows is becoming an emergent reality of Istanbul, whose transformative impact still remains little understood. This talk presents ethnographic research from Istanbul's historic Kumkapi neighborhood, which today has become a key residential and employment hub for a great diversity of migrants and refugees, whose national/ethnic/religious/gender backgrounds, migration motives and legal statuses greatly vary. It will initially set out the numerous aspects, historical and present, that have permitted this transformation, focusing throughout on processes of informalization and diversification. Ethnographic examples will then be presented in relation to the socio-spatial ramifications of these processes. In conclusion, the speaker will discuss the usefulness of the notion of arrival city as it relates to the multiple spatialities, temporalities and mobilities of Kumkapi.
Kareem Rabie, CUNY Graduate Center, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series. This talk explores the arrival city framework in the context of occupied Palestine, beginning with a consideration of the ways that markets and immigration are treated in that framework. Next, it introduces ethnographic material on ordinary Palestinians' relationships to a particular massive housing development being built in the West Bank, and the increasing stratification between Palestinians in urban (as well as new, potentially-urban) and rural areas. New forms of political, social, and economic imagination integrate Palestinians into a vision of the future formed through privatization and market creation, and led by private developers and the Palestinian Authority. Yet not everyone is equally integrated. What does the Palestinian case - one characterized by unevenness, differentiation, and equalization at different geographical scales - tell us about the arrival city model? This talk asks, what do social capital, ambition, privatization, or immigration mean under stifling structural political conditions?
Dimitris Dalakoglou, University of Sussex, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series. In 2010, it was reported that out of the 510 border guards employed in the country, 473 were, in fact, serving in Athens. Indeed, deployment of border guards in cities has become standard practice these days; for example, in the summer of 2013 UKBA organized a large-scale operation in London’s underground stations stopping and checking migrants and people of migratory origin. This urbanisation of security and military techniques developed supposedly to protect the borders of a nation-state from a military attack is just part of a wider process which reconfigures the social class divisions in Western European metropolises. This new political economy which often passes over the bodies and lives of non-Western migrants, at the time of crisis, finds one of its major materialisations in the centre of Athens along the Greek part of the common European borders. This paper, drawing from an 18-month long ethnography in Athens, will attempt to set a light to the urban everydayness that follows the current financial crisis.
Chris Minns, London School of Economics, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series. This paper develops a simple methodology to estimate the stock of citizens and citizenship rates for over 30 European towns and cities between 1550 and 1800. We find substantial variation in individual urban citizenship rates, from less than five percent to over twenty percent, even within the borders of present-day Western European nations. Estimates of the share of households with citizens suggest that many early modern cities were relatively inclusive, when compared to the extent of the franchise in mid to late 19th century European nation states. We also find compelling evidence that population growth and urban expansion was associated with a decline in the importance of urban citizenship.
Sarah Spencer and Jonathan Price, COMPAS, Oxford, give a talk for the COMPAS series. This briefing presents the findings of an 18 month study that explored the implications of a tension between two areas of policy concerning the welfare of children: a requirement in immigration law that excludes some families from mainstream welfare benefits and a provision in the Children Act (s17) that requires local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of any child ‘in need’. The study involved a large survey of local authorities and of the voluntary sector; 8 local authority cases studies and 92 interviews. While central government determines who may access ‘public funds’, and has to resolve the immigration status of families with applications pending, local government provides a safety net for destitute children whose parents have no other means of support. The study provides data on families, the practices of local authorities that assess and provide support, the nature of the support provided, the role of the voluntary sector and challenges in the working relationship between the two tiers of government with responsibility for these families.
This briefing explores the lived experiences and concerns of segments of the majority population in Higher Blackley, a ward in the north of Manchester. Part of the COMPAS Breakfast Breifing Series. The briefing focuses on key areas of local policy - employment, education, health, housing, political participation, policing, and the media - as well as broader themes of belonging and identity. Higher Blackley has a majority white working class community, with significant pockets of deprivation alongside areas of relative affluence. The briefing is based on a report published by the Open Society Foundations' At Home in Europe programme, as part of a series providing ground-breaking research on the experiences of a section of the population whose lives are often caricatured and whose voices are rarely heard in public debates on integration, social cohesion, and social inclusion. The research on which the briefing was based was conducted by The Social Action & Research Foundation (SARF). Part of the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing Series: Topical, cutting edge research on migration and migration related issues will be made accessible to an audience of policy makers and other research users. Questions and discussion will follow the presentations on the potential implications for policy and practice.
Dina Ionesco International Organization for Migration and Alex Sutton UK Climate Change & Migration Coalition give a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series. Both climate change and migration are complex and politically sensitive topics. This briefing, a collaboration between the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UK Climate Change and Migration Coalition (UKCCMC), explores what recent research and policy developments tell us about the linkages between the two issues and how we can respond.
Rachel Briggs (Institute for Strategic Dialogue) and Peter Neumann (International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation) give a presentation for the COMPAS Breakfast Brefiing Series. There has been considerable media attention focusing on the security concerns that foreign fighters pose to not only Syria and Iraq, but also their countries of origin. This briefing outlines the nature and scale of the problem and unpack the motivations of Westerners that are drawn to fight alongside IS and explore their activities on the ground. It also addresses responses to this threat, which are constantly evolving. Much attention has been directed towards harder policy approaches, particularly as foreign fighters return to Europe. The briefing discusses the need for alternative approaches that go beyond prosecution.
William Allen, Migration Observatory, COMPAS, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series. On 1 January 2014, transitional controls placed on Bulgarians and Romanians wanting to work in the UK were lifted. From 1 December 2012 to 1 December 2013, arguably a crucial time in the run-up to this important change, UK national newspapers discussed the potential magnitude, impacts, and composition of migrants from these countries. But how did the British national press portray these groups? What kinds of issues were raised in relation to people from these countries? This briefing will explore these questions using new research from The Migration Observatory, Bulgarians and Romanians in the British National Press: 1 December 2012 – 1 December 2013. Analysing the language used by different sections of the UK national press (tabloids and broadsheets) to describe Bulgarians and Romanians over an entire year reveals clear differences in the kinds of words used to refer to each group. Furthermore, it uncovers a range of numerical figures referring to anticipated numbers of migrants that circulated in the press, despite a continuing lack of official data.
In the fourth panel of the Decade of Migration conference Nicholas Van Hear, Robin Cohen and John Burry look at geopolitical influences and global shifts in power and how it affects migrants. Nick Van Hear highlights milestones in geo-politics that show how changes in global political economy have shaped migration and mobility. Robin Cohen's talk is "From new helots to the precariat: back to the future". Jon Urry completes the panel by looking at new mobilities paradigms and offshore worlds. Part of the Decade of Migration Conference. This international conference marked the 10 year anniversary of COMPAS and looked to future research agendas. Bringing together leading academics and senior practitioners from across the world, this event discussed how migration research has re-configured the social sciences over the past 10 years and in turn how changes in the social sciences have influenced the study of mobility and migration, their patterns, consequences and policies.
In the third panel of the Decade of Migration conference Martin Ruhs, Monique Kremer, and Roger Waldinger gave different insights into mobility and the global labour market. Martin Ruhs highlights some key inter-disciplinary and policy related themes of COMPAS research that will be important in the future. Monique Kremer looked at the relationship between the labour market and the welfare state, while Roger Waldinger critiques the transnational perspective on migration. Part of the Decade of Migration Conference. This international conference marked the 10 year anniversary of COMPAS and looked to future research agendas. Bringing together leading academics and senior practitioners from across the world, this event discussed how migration research has re-configured the social sciences over the past 10 years and in turn how changes in the social sciences have influenced the study of mobility and migration, their patterns, consequences and policies.
In the first panel of the Decade of Migration conference Ash Amin and Vicki Bell focus on cities. Ash Amin outlines work set out in his book "City of Migrants", looking at the characteristic of the city and its construction of migrants and migrant experiences. Vicki Bell considers "Routes not taken", examining routes not taken in the field of memory studies and its relation to history based on research in Cordoba, Argentina. Part of the Decade of Migration Conference. This international conference marked the 10 year anniversary of COMPAS and looked to future research agendas. Bringing together leading academics and senior practitioners from across the world, this event discussed how migration research has re-configured the social sciences over the past 10 years and in turn how changes in the social sciences have influenced the study of mobility and migration, their patterns, consequences and policies.
Michael Keith, Paul Boyle, and Andrew Hamilton introduce the conference "Decade of Migration" and discuss the challenges and hopes for the topics and discussions. Part of the Decade of Migration Conference. This international conference marked the 10 year anniversary of COMPAS and looked to future research agendas. Bringing together leading academics and senior practitioners from across the world, this event discussed how migration research has re-configured the social sciences over the past 10 years and in turn how changes in the social sciences have influenced the study of mobility and migration, their patterns, consequences and policies.
Based on a project conducted by LSE and COMPAS Isabel Shutes talk examines inclusion and exclusion with regards to welfare rights. She looks at forms of differential inclusion and exclusion cut across citizens and non-citizens like, as applied to EU citizens, non-EU citizens, and British citizens. Part of the COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2014- Borders of the welfare state: Exploring the tensions between migration enforcement and welfare state entitlements
Part of the COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2014- Borders of the welfare state: Exploring the tensions between migration enforcement and welfare state entitlements Young people who arrive in the UK from outside Europe without a parent or legal guardian are institutionally categorised according to a range of possible legal statuses and usually afforded time-limited Leave to Remain in the UK. These categorisations are associated with specific welfare entitlements which tend to diminish over time and become particularly uncertain as young people transition into ‘adulthood’. Situated within a broader research programme examining the link between migration, ‘wellbeing’ and ‘futures’, this paper examines the multiple transitions imposed on young people subject to immigration control as they approach the age of 18 and beyond, (from child to ‘adult’, from being accorded a temporary residence permit to more permanent leave to remain or from legality to ‘illegality’) and the implications for their access to various dimensions of welfare provision. This talk shows how different components of the ‘state’ have time limitations at their disposal to control access to welfare and state support according to chronological age. From young people’s perspectives, such ‘tactics’ fundamentally control their trajectories and future prospects unless they can formulate strategies of their own to counter such tactics.
Part of the COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2014- Borders of the welfare state: Exploring the tensions between migration enforcement and welfare state entitlements Theories of EU citizenship and equal treatment can seem optimistic and inclusive in academic study, but are somewhat at odds with the reality of being an EU migrant. This presentation draws upon findings of the EU Rights Project which tests out the accessibility of EU welfare rights in the UK, through taking on cases, representing clients, and conducting a parallel ethnography of the claims and appeals processes. These findings are placed in the context of significant general recent welfare reform, and reforms targeting EU nationals specifically, suggesting that the motivation for dismantling institutionalised obstacles to accessing rights and accessing justice may be seriously impaired by the messages of suspicion and aversion created through the law.
Jacobsen, Bendixsen and Karlsen outline findings from the project PROVIR, examining the access to welfare and its limitations for irregular migrants in Norway. Part of the COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2014- Borders of the welfare state: Exploring the tensions between migration enforcement and welfare state entitlements
COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2014- Borders of the welfare state: Exploring the tensions between migration enforcement and welfare state entitlements Over the last two decades, research on unauthorized migration has departed from the equation of migrant illegality with absolute exclusion, emphasizing that formal exclusion typically results in subordinate inclusion. Irregular migrants integrate through informal support networks, the underground economy, and political activities. But they also incorporate into formal institutions, either through policy divergence between levels of government, bureaucratic sabotage or fraud. The incorporation of undocumented migrants involves not so much invisibility as camouflage – presenting the paradox that camouflage improves with integration. As it reaches the formal level of claims and procedures, legalization brings up the issue of the frames through which legal deservingness is asserted. Looking at the moral economy embedded in claims and programs, we examine a series of frame tensions: between universal and particular claims to legal status, between legalization based on vulnerability and that based on civic performance, between economic and cultural deservingness, and between the policy level and individual subjectivity. Sebastien Chauvin shows that restrictionist governments face a dilemma when their constructions of “good citizenship” threaten to extend to “deserving” undocumented migrants. Hence they may simultaneously emphasize deservingness frames while limiting irregular migrants’ opportunities to deserve, effectively making deservingness both a civic obligation and a civic privilege.
COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2014- Borders of the welfare state: Exploring the tensions between migration enforcement and welfare state entitlements he European Social Charter (ESC) is the socio-economic 'sister' instrument of the ECHR. The text of the ESC contains a comprehensive list of social rights, which are generally binding on the vast majority of European states, and its provisions have exerted a considerable influence over the development of national and EU legal standards (including the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights). However, a tension exists between the universal nature of these rights and the limited personal scope of the ESC, which in general exempts irregular migrants from its scope of protection. The European Committee on Social Rights (ECSR), the body which interprets the ESC, has tried to bridge this tension by setting out a minimum floor of social protection which should apply to all irregular migrants, in decision such as Defence of Children International v Netherlands. However, states have resisted this interpretation of the ESC, and it remains to be seen whether this minimum floor of basic social rights protection will become an effective means of guaranteeing irregular migrants access to essential services across Europe.
Liz Collett and Milica Petrovic from the Migration Policy Institute give a talk The UK debate has been obsessed with numbers, limits and caps since 2010, and arguably a generation. This misses the real story of immigration: how immigrants integrate into society. When do migrants cease to be migrants? The integration story is a complex one but its importance cannot be understated: whether or not groups are successfully included will ultimately shape immigration policy. MPI Europe has been interested in what governments can do to encourage such a process. In the UK, policy responsibility for integration is diffused through a range of national and local government agencies, often with unclear or overlapping mandates. In contrast, countries in mainland Europe, such as the Netherlands and Denmark, tend to resource specialised actors within government that design and manage integration policies in isolation from mainstream policy, with clear targets and tailored interventions. As policy-makers in these countries grapple with the need to infuse integration priorities into mainstream policy portfolios across government, what can be learned from the British experience, and vice versa?
Derek McGhee and Claire Bennett, University of Southampton, give a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Breifing series Citizens may be broadly in agreement with government immigration policy and acknowledge the consequent logic of illegality and deportation, but its actual practice can be deeply unsettling, challenging liberal respect for physical integrity and freedom of choice. State funded ‘Assisted Voluntary Return’ (AVR) programmes seem to resolve these contradictions and are on the increase across Europe. Returnees are not subjected to outward mechanisms of enforcement (handcuffs, guards, etc.) but rather ‘choose’ to return and are granted a support package to reintegrate. NGOs are becoming heavily involved in these programmes, and in the UK the entire programme is implemented by a refugee charity, Refugee Action. This briefing draws on ‘Tried and Trusted ? the Role of NGOs in the Assisted Voluntary Return of Refused Asylum Seekers and Irregular Migrants’ a joint research project between the Centre for Population Change, University of Southampton and COMPAS, Oxford University. It discusses how ‘choice’ is understood in the context of state enforced destitution and ‘illegality’. Does AVR make immigration enforcement more acceptable in liberal democracies? Does the focus on choice mean we miss questions of justice? How do NGOs implementing the programme negotiate these tensions? Can NGOs maintain independence when funded by governments? Does this relationship open space for weighty advocacy’ or are NGOs simply ‘doing the government’s dirty work’? These issues are also discussed in relation to detention centres, where the Home Office has recently removed access to AVR. AVR is a laboratory for the development of new forms of co-operation between states and NGOs.
Sue Lukes former member of the Housing and Migration Network and John Perry former member of the Housing and Migration Network and Policy Adviser at the Chartered Institute of Housing and manager of housing rights give a talk for the COMPAS Series Destitution appears to be a growing problem among migrants, for a variety of reasons. London rough sleeping data consistently show more than half of rough sleepers are migrants, although proportions are generally much lower elsewhere. This breakfast briefing looks at the evidence of how much destitution there is among migrants, the different reasons why it occurs and also the difficulties in assessing the extent of destitution. It also looks at how advice agencies and others can assist destitute migrants and what issues arise in doing so. Finally, it looks briefly at a case study of a current project. The speakers are Sue Lukes and John Perry who respectively write for and edit the Housing Rights website run by the Chartered Institute of Housing.
This talk was hosted by COMPAS and the University of Oxford's Human Rights Hub. It was chaired by Dr. Sarah Spencer (COMPAS) and comments provided by Dr. Cathryn Costello (Director, Human Rights Hub).
In recent years, many European countries have been grimly reminded of the threat from far-right violence motivated by hatred towards migrants and minorities. This talk explores how 10 European countires are attempting to address this. Amongst other events, the attacks on Oslo in July 2011 and the discovery of the National Socialist Underground in Germany have fed the fear that right-wing violence is on the rise, and raised questions about whether this form of extremism has been a blind spot for European policy makers and security officials. This briefing sets out the results of a 2-year research project, funded by the European Commission, to assess policy and practitioner approaches to far-right extremism across 10 EU countries (UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovak Republic), and enhance European cooperation and sharing of good practice. Drawing on interviews with over 100 individuals across Europe, from those writing National Action Plans to counter extremism to those carrying out one-on-one interventions with far right supporters, the presentation will set forth key challenges and recommendations for prevention, intervention and response to far-right extremism and hate crime.
This talk draws on a case study of forced displacement, onward migration, and prospective return within the living memory of one community, and explores questions of freedom and force ethnographically: How do members of this community conceptualise compulsion and choice in their own and others' lives, and with what implications for the politics of victimhood and claims for redress?
Geetanjali Gangoli, University of Bristol, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series on forced marriage and its implications on immigration and human rights The issue of forced marriage is extremely contentious in the UK, and has undergone much policy and legal shifts in the past few decades. This talk looks at how immigration policies treat the issue of forced marriage including attempts to increase entry age on a marriage visas and current rhetoric on immigration, and attempt to look at the implications that these engagements have had and potentially continue to have for gender, ethnicity and immigration issues nationally and internationally. It will specifically look at the twists and turns in immigration and forced marriage policy over the last decade, and government approaches to research evidence in this regard.
This seminar discusses the Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC) Index. This project builds a dataset on immigration policies in all OECD countries for the period 1980-2010. It will open a completely new research field and allow researchers to study the causes and effects of immigration policies and developments across time more systematically. Contrary to existing indices this index will be conceptually more comprehensive and distinguish between (1) all relevant policy fields, (2) regulations that create/constrain rights and control mechanisms, (3) external regulations that concern border crossing and thus eligibility criteria and conditions and internal regulations that concern the status and rights of immigrants.
Part of the COMPAS Seminar Series Michaelmas 2013: Rebordering: reflections in relation to (post)socialism Madeleine Reeves (University of Manchester) explores the relationship between infrastructure, (re)bordering, and inter-communal relations in rural Central Asia. Two decades after independence from the Soviet Union, large stretches of the international border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan remain to be juridically delimited or demarcated. The two states are in disagreement over which maps and normative acts, ratified in one republic but not the other when both were part of the Soviet Union, should be taken as the basis of negotiation for border delimitation today. This presentation explores the contemporary legacies of spatial indeterminacy for understanding the politics of territorial integrity in contemporary Kyrgyzstan. Drawing on ethnographic research in border villages, the paper explores local concerns over creeping migration at new international borders and the contention that has arisen over new initiatives of bypass-building that are intended to reinforce territorial integrity and transport independence in a context of disputed territoriality. In so doing, I seek to bring discussions of rebordering after socialism into conversation with the anthropology of infrastructure, to draw attention to the material politics of border work in contemporary Central Asia.
Part of the COMPAS Seminar Series Michaelmas 2013: Rebordering: reflections in relation to (post)socialism This paper moves from the usual focus on mobile people crossing borders (migrants, traders, tourists, etc.) to examine more closely the activities of the various state agencies found at the international border. It is argued, focussing on the Russian side, that these agencies need to be disaggregated and that the relations both between and within them are incoherent. The actions of state agencies are not merely reactive but dynamic and unpredictable. Their incoherence and and predictability give rise to wide ranging shifts in the patterns of activity of the mobile people crossing the border.
Part of the COMPAS Seminar Series Michaelmas 2013: Rebordering: reflections in relation to (post)socialism Madina Tlostanova. Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration gives a talk on the post-communist remapping of the world has effectively left the post-socialist people out of the new world order of global coloniality. We are inhabiting its margins and desperately trying to cross the newly drawn seemingly transparent but in fact much more impenetrable boundaries, in the strange capacity of the new subalterns who are longing yet are never able to belong, remaining forever marked with a peculiar double consciousness of being too same to be real others for the West and too different to be fully accepted. This sensibility can evolve in the direction of anger, rejection and hostility, in a predictable assimilative way of crossing borders in order to eventually reroot in a new soil. But it can also give birth to a specific version of positive though critical border thinking (dwelling in the border being the border rather than simply crossing borders). This stance intersects in many ways with decolonial option originating in Latin American thought, as well as with more well known Anglophone postcolonial studies, but there are also considerable diversions due to specific local histories of the Post-Socialist world. Why then the post-socialists still do not have a discourse of their/our own and largely remain invisible? And how the post-socialist border thinking and imaginary can be drawn into the general picture of global coloniality and the no less global decolonial response?
Alexander Betts, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series The seminar, based on Betts' new book, explores the challenge of responding to new drivers of cross-border displacement that fall outside the existing refugee framework. Rather than beginning with particular causes of displacement - whether environmental change, food insecurity, or generalized violence - it offers a human rights-based framework through which to critically consider who, in a changing world, should be entitled to cross an international border and seek asylum. Based on extensive fieldwork, it grounds its analysis in an exploration of contemporary flight from three of the most fragile states in the world: Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia. It explains the massive variation in national and international institutional responses in the neighbouring states, arguing that politics rather than law ultimately determines how the refugee regime is implemented in practice.
Karen O'Reilly, University of Loughborough, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series This paper draws attention to the relatively affluent nature and precarious positioning of some lifestyle migration. Lifestyle migration has been defined as the movement of relatively affluent people to destinations that offer an improved quality of life. Lifestyle migrants (often, but not always, Westerners) are thought to move more in search of freedom and leisure than for security or as a result of economic necessity. However, lifestyle migrants are not always affluent in absolute terms; nor are they unerringly powerful or privileged. Increasingly, studies of lifestyle migration are drawing attention to the precarious nature of their migrant experience, whereby rules and regulations governing movement affect those groups who always seem most vulnerable: the elderly, the poor, women, and children.
Julia O'Connell Davidson considers historical notions of slavery and how they can or cannot be applied to modern situations of forced migration. Debates about force and freedom are fundamental to migration theory and policy. The refugee/migrant binary that has been the subject of significant critique in research continues to underpin asylum and immigration policy, while considerable resources are devoted to distinguishing between the trafficked (forced) and the smuggled (free choice) migrant. Immigration policy has long sought to categorise and 'identify' those who must be rescued and those who must be punished. This seminar series will critically examine these distinctions, but it will also engage with the hidden compulsions of immigration controls (such as worker sponsorship) and the liberally discomforting explicit force of detention and deportation. What does this reveal about ideals of freedom? What does the foregrounding of the forced/free binary obfuscate?
Martin Ruhs, COMPAS, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the COMPAS podcast series The great majority of labour immigration programmes in high-income countries are temporary migration programmes that limit the migrant‚ employment to the employer specified on the work permit. Drawing on his recent book ‚ÄúThe Price of Rights. Regulating International Labor Migration (Princeton University Press 2013, www.priceofrights.com ), Martin Ruhs discusses the causes and consequences of tying migrant workers to their employers.
Allan Findlay, David McCollum and Jakub Bijak give a talk on migration and Scotland In September 2014 Scotland will hold an historic referendum on its constitutional future. Migration is an important aspect of the debates surrounding this ballot: the current UK government has emphasised its desire to restrict immigration to Britain, whilst the Scottish Government has viewed net immigration as a valuable contributor to the economic and demographic growth of Scotland. The Breakfast Briefing explores these contrasting positions and draws on new research (using secondary datasets, and interviews with employers, students and local authorities) undertaken as part of the ESRC 's 'Future of the UK and Scotland' programme. The speakers consider the challenges and opportunities that Scotland faces in devising an immigration policy attuned to its particular needs, whatever the outcome of the referendum.
Alice Bloch, University of Manchester, gives a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Breifing series This briefing draws on data from an ESRC funded project, 'Undocumented Migrants, Ethnic Enclaves and Networks: Opportunities, traps or class-based constructs', in order to explore the choices and constraints of undocumented migrants in the labour market, from their own perspectives. It examines the diverse realities of working lives among undocumented migrants. Focusing on how undocumented migrants navigate their precarious situations the briefing will attempt to shed light on some of these individual experiences within the wider policy and structural frameworks in which they operate.
Martin Ruhs, COMPAS, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Breifing series Many low-income countries and development organisations are calling for greater liberalization of labor immigration policies in high-income countries. At the same time, human rights organisations and migrant rights advocates demand more equal rights for migrant workers. The Price of Rights, a new book by COMPAS economist Martin Ruhs, shows why you cannot always have both. Examining labor immigration policies in over forty countries, as well as policy drivers in major migrant-receiving and migrant-sending states, Martin Ruhs finds that there are trade-offs in the policies of high-income countries between openness to admitting migrant workers and some of the rights granted to migrants after admission. Insisting on greater equality of rights for migrant workers can come at the price of more restrictive admission policies, especially for lower-skilled workers.In this breakfast briefing, Martin Ruhs will give an overview of his analysis and discuss the implications for global and national debates about migrant rights, labour migration and development.
Jon Simmons, Home Office Migration and Border Analysis, gives a talk for the COMPAS Breaskfast Breifing series This briefing summarises research and analysis conducted by Home Office Science to provide further evidence on the social and public service impacts of migration at the local level. It examines migrant composition and impacts at the local, rather than the national, level. It presents a local authority typology, classifying all local authorities within England and Wales into twelve discrete groups, on the basis of key migration and socio-economic indicators, including the different migrant types (e.g. workers, students) and nationalities of migrants they have recently received. Additionally, the research examines impacts of different types of migrant, rather than focusing on migrants as a homogenous group. It considers impacts on different public services (e.g. health services and education) and the local economy.
Caroline Oliver and Juan Camilo give a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series. here has been considerable change in policies affecting migrants coming to and live in the UK as family members over recent years. Last year on 9th July 2012, the entry requirements were revised to incorporate an increased income threshold for the sponsor of non-EU spouses, while the period of time before they become eligible for permanent residence (and in which they face limited access to certain benefits) has been extended. Reasons given for such policies are to decrease the burden on the state and to foster integration. What impact have such policies had on the lives and experiences of family migrants? One year on from the changes, the briefing will offer evidence from two projects: an 18-month project carried out at COMPAS at the University of Oxford on the effects of post-entry restrictions and entitlements on family migrants' integration in the UK, which is part of a four country European study; and an investigation carried out at the Migrants' Rights Network on the consequences of the new entry rules. The briefing examines the impacts of the changing policy regime on family lives, the life decisions that families make and consider emerging findings on how such policies affect their integration within British society.
Professor Robert E Wright gives a talk for the Centre for Migration, Policy and Society. Most of the countries of Europe are ageing rapidly, with population and labour force decline being expected in the near future. Although politically unpopular, the governments of most of these countries view managed immigration as being the main way to expand their labour forces. However, most of these countries do not have in place immigration systems that 'select the best'. However, this is changing. For example, a points-based immigration system has been introduced in the United Kingdom. This system puts factors such as employability, skills and language ability (or more generally 'human capital') at the centre of immigration policy. Although the system is often portrayed as being new or novel it is not - it is a minor variant of the system introduced in Canada in 1967 and copied by Australia in 1973. Using micro-data collected in Canadian censuses, and matching methods, this talk attempts to evaluate empirically whether such programmes are effective. The main aim of the analysis is to consider whether lessons can be learned from the Canadian experience that can be applied to the UK and other countries where points-based immigration systems are being introduced.
Ludi Simpson and Stephen Jivraj give a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series. The 2011 Census updates our knowledge about ethnic inequalities in work, housing, education, health and residential patterns. The first results have confirmed the growing ethnic diversity of the UK population, a spreading out of minority populations, and more mixed ethnicity within families and households. For the first time the Census has asked questions on language proficiency and national identity. What does this new information mean for integration of immigrants and their offspring into the communities where they settle? How can the information help to target areas and populations to improve integration? Which trends suggest new contexts for policy? The briefing will give an overview distinguishing sure from tentative interpretations.
Diane Coyle discusses labour migration movements across borders through firm's decision problems and strategic thinking. The aim of the series is to explore the how migration research has re-configured the social sciences over the past 10 years and in turn how changes in the social sciences have influenced the study of mobility and migration, their patterns, consequences and policies. Each seminar will focus on one of the six COMPAS core research themes; flows and dynamics, labour markets, citizenship and belonging, urban change and settlement, welfare, and the Migration Observatory.
In the United States, the right to territorial belonging is the only inalienable right U.S. citizens have, and this right is exclusive to U.S. citizens. Most scholarship on citizenship examines how rights are distributed within a polity, yet rarely considers how citizenship can function as a barrier to territorial rights - the right to live in a particular place. This talk draws from interviews with 30 Jamaican deported former legal permanent residents of the United States to address the question: What can we learn about the construction of citizenship in the 21st century through a consideration of people denied territorial rights? Addressing this question enhances our understanding of citizenship in two ways: 1) Tanya Golash Boza calls into question the assumption that citizenship rights are hierarchical and argue that social, cultural, and legal citizenship rights are non-convergent; and 2) she provides evidence that alienage is not always a salient aspect of the lives of non-U.S. citizens. Instead, it becomes relevant at certain points, and facing deportation is one of those points.
The recent political debates in the United States have raised awareness of the untenable situation facing more than 2.1 million undocumented immigrant children and young adults who have lived in the U.S. since childhood. Each year, tens of thousands of undocumented youngsters leave American high schools to embark upon uncertain futures. But until now, very little has been known about the ways in which these young people come of age and how legal barriers shape their adolescent and adult trajectories. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Greater Los Angeles, and 150 life history interviews with 20-34 year old, Mexican-origin, undocumented young adults, this study finds that conflicting and contradictory laws uncomfortably position undocumented immigrant youth between spaces of belonging and illegality. As laws begin to narrowly circumscribe their everyday lives they must learn to be illegal. Ultimately, through their transition to illegality, immigration status emerges as a master status.
Nando Sigona, University of Birmingham, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series. Drawing on ethnographic research in Italian refugee/nomad camps where forcibly displaced Roma from former Yugoslavia were sheltered, this talk reflects on the spatial dimension of social relations and the social construction of spaces in camps and camp-like institutions. It argues that Agamben conceptualisation of the camp as a space of exception fails to grasp the complexity of social relations in camps. Focusing on the resources, entitlements, and rights of camp residents and their interactions with the state apparatus, the paper explores what Nando Sigona term the comfort of exceptionality, and proposes the concept of campzenship to capture the specific form of citizenship produced in/by the camp, and the legacy of the camp on former inhabitants.
This talk introduces the proposition that citizenship and alienage (or migrant status) may be best understood as two key figures of a spectrum of bordered identities. - categorical distinctions among different sorts of people configured in relation to territorially defined states by the differences in space produced by borders. Thinking with the concept of bordered identities, it becomes possible to better appreciate how bordered exclusions do an inclusionary work that is inseparable from the systemic processes of migrant illegalization and the subordination of migrant labour. By juxtaposing the scene of exclusion to what may be called the obscene of inclusion, we likewise complicate conventional notions of belonging and various sorts of abject belonging or membership come better into view. Hence, we begin to see not only the necropolitical extremities of regulatory regimes of border policing but also the biopolitical regularities that they produce - above all, the irregularity of irregular migration. In the shadows of a bordered world, then, migrant illegality emerges as the shadow of citizenship itself.
Fiona Williams looks at different approaches taken by social policy to race, ethnicity, and migration, and proposes implications for social justice that emerge. She places inequalities of gender, race and status at the centre of the consideration of the welfare state.
Nicholas de Genova examines what Europe is and means through the existence of migrants. Discussing integration and cohesion in Europe as viewed when migration is considered 'a problem', touching on issues of national identity, value and sovereignty framed through issues of migration.
Chris Wilson discusses replacement migration in Britain and Europe, from a demography perspective, explaining a newly developed system for looking replacement ratios.
Martin Ruhs outlines the findings of his new book 'The Price of Rights', discussing the trade off between openness to migrants and access to rights.
David Miller examines the effects and results of border regimes on human rights, from a political philosophy perspective. He states that border regimes are damaging in terms of human rights.
Stephen Meili looks at how human rights treaties are applied in the UK court systems to applications by asylum seekers.
Oberoi discusses the process of migration being governed with a focus on human rights. Including a look at spaces including the 2005 Global Commission on Migration, UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, UNHCR Executive Committee, the WHA and others.
Bernard Ryan discusses the possibilities of the Migrant Workers Convention, the relevant committee and its work.
It is often assumed that the pathway from home to university and onwards to the labour market is a linear upward trajectory, ultimately resulting in improved opportunities and social betterment. This briefing summarises research tracing the lives of graduates across the five year period after leaving university, revealing that their migration pathways are often complex, non-linear and precarious. During this prolonged period of instability the parental home (and parental support more generally) provides a crucial safety net, potentially placing additional burden on mid-life parents who may also have care responsibilities to the older parent generation. Within the context of an ageing population and extending transitions to adulthood, the implications of these findings for adult social care, young adult welfare and regional economic development policy are discussed.
This briefing provides a descriptive analysis of the role of social networks in the labour market, comparing immigrant and native men in the UK. The speakers will explore the determinants of using social networks as a channel for looking for jobs.
n recent years several European states have seen the emergence of 'counter-Jihad' movements, which in contrast to the established populist radical right eschew electoral politics and put stronger emphasis on mobilizing opposition to Islam and Muslims. Despite attracting attention, counter-Jihad movements and the predictors of their support are under researched. Drawing on a new survey and sample of self-identified supporters, we investigate the predictors of public support for the English Defence League (EDL), the inaugural 'defence league' in Europe.
Roger Zetter thinks about the nature and challenges of researching migrant (specifically refugee) journeys. He presents a paper with idea about the lacuna in research about the subject, and also examines the limited research that does exist. He argues the importance of studying the journey, for both academics and policy makers. Finally Roger looks at some of the conceptual and methodological challenges for this research. The field of migration studies has tended to explore the causes and outcomes of migration to the neglect of the conditions and practice of movement itself. The literature has looked at what drives migration and the decision to move, and placed emphasis on what happens afterwards in terms of integration, exclusion and so on. What happens 'in between' this 'before and after' - migrants' journeys - has received much less analytical attention, in contrast to the quite extensive literary, biographical and film exploration of such journeys. In this seminar series we aim to address how journeys are shaped by means of travel, borders, smugglers/agents/brokers, networks, social media, social support during journeys, age/gender/generation, class/resources/social capital/wealth/power, law/legal constraints, personal security/danger/risk. The series will explore fruitful ways in which journeys may be approached analytically. Does the so-called mobilities paradigm offer insights here? Can journeys usefully be analysed in terms of structure and agency? How do class, gender, generation and other social cleavages and power relations shape journeys? How can the risks and dangers encountered by migrants en route be addressed? These and other approaches will be drawn upon in the series to deepen our understanding of migrant journeys.
Melissa Siegel looks at migration and poverty at community level in Moldova and Georgia, in relation to a 2 year research project funded by the European Commission. The project looks at the effects of migration on children and the elderly who are left behind when those who would normally provide care for them migrate. The field of migration studies has tended to explore the causes and outcomes of migration to the neglect of the conditions and practice of movement itself. The literature has looked at what drives migration and the decision to move, and placed emphasis on what happens afterwards in terms of integration, exclusion and so on. What happens 'in between' this 'before and after' - migrants' journeys - has received much less analytical attention, in contrast to the quite extensive literary, biographical and film exploration of such journeys. In this seminar series we aim to address how journeys are shaped by means of travel, borders, smugglers/agents/brokers, networks, social media, social support during journeys, age/gender/generation, class/resources/social capital/wealth/power, law/legal constraints, personal security/danger/risk. The series will explore fruitful ways in which journeys may be approached analytically. Does the so-called mobilities paradigm offer insights here? Can journeys usefully be analysed in terms of structure and agency? How do class, gender, generation and other social cleavages and power relations shape journeys? How can the risks and dangers encountered by migrants en route be addressed? These and other approaches will be drawn upon in the series to deepen our understanding of migrant journeys.
Thanos Maroukis talks about the social processes at play behind the migrant smuggling business. Based on his recently published book Thanos talks the audience throughout he methodology, theoretical framework and findings. The field of migration studies has tended to explore the causes and outcomes of migration to the neglect of the conditions and practice of movement itself. The literature has looked at what drives migration and the decision to move, and placed emphasis on what happens afterwards in terms of integration, exclusion and so on. What happens 'in between' this 'before and after' - migrants' journeys - has received much less analytical attention, in contrast to the quite extensive literary, biographical and film exploration of such journeys. In this seminar series we aim to address how journeys are shaped by means of travel, borders, smugglers/agents/brokers, networks, social media, social support during journeys, age/gender/generation, class/resources/social capital/wealth/power, law/legal constraints, personal security/danger/risk. The series will explore fruitful ways in which journeys may be approached analytically. Does the so-called mobilities paradigm offer insights here? Can journeys usefully be analysed in terms of structure and agency? How do class, gender, generation and other social cleavages and power relations shape journeys? How can the risks and dangers encountered by migrants en route be addressed? These and other approaches will be drawn upon in the series to deepen our understanding of migrant journeys.
Hannah Cross, University of Manchester, gives a talk for the COMPAS Seminar Series Michaelmas term 2012: Migration Journeys on 25th October 2012. The field of migration studies has tended to explore the causes and outcomes of migration to the neglect of the conditions and practice of movement itself. The literature has looked at what drives migration and the decision to move, and placed emphasis on what happens afterwards in terms of integration, exclusion and so on. What happens 'in between' this 'before and after' - migrants' journeys - has received much less analytical attention, in contrast to the quite extensive literary, biographical and film exploration of such journeys. In this seminar series we aim to address how journeys are shaped by means of travel, borders, smugglers/agents/brokers, networks, social media, social support during journeys, age/gender/generation, class/resources/social capital/wealth/power, law/legal constraints, personal security/danger/risk. The series will explore fruitful ways in which journeys may be approached analytically. Does the so-called mobilities paradigm offer insights here? Can journeys usefully be analysed in terms of structure and agency? How do class, gender, generation and other social cleavages and power relations shape journeys? How can the risks and dangers encountered by migrants en route be addressed? These and other approaches will be drawn upon in the series to deepen our understanding of migrant journeys.
Drawing on qualitative data from an ESRC-funded project, this presentation will explore the nature and dynamics of intra-EU talent migration through a particular focus on the French highly-skilled working in London's financial and business sectors. Specifically, it will explore French accounts of London as a place of opportunity, where talent is both recognised and rewarded, in some contradistinction to Paris and France. It will examine French accounts of the different and more meritocratic ways in which talent is calibrated in London, and of the underlying characteristics of London that make this recognition and reward of talent possible. More information about this work can be found at http://frenchlondon.co.uk/
Among critics of temporary labour migration programs (TLMP), it is common to describe them as exploitative, rights-violating, and unfair. Often, however, these critics fail to distinguish between high- and low-skilled TLMP, the stipulations of which are often quite distinct. Where they do distinguish between them, the common conclusion is that only low-skilled TLMP pose problems of justice which require immediate action. Patti Lenard will examine these assumptions. She argues that both low- and high-skilled TLMP often pose problems of justice, and that while some of these apply only to high- or low-skilled programs, there are others which apply to both. She will illustrate these dilemmas by reference to the Canadian case, where the government has expanded the number of migrants participating in TLMP significantly over the last 10 years.
Outlining a new report for the Housing and Migration Network UK, 'Migrants and the Private Rented Sector', published in February is the first national report to explore the needs and experience of new migrants who live in the private rented sector. It provides evidence that new migrants are not only more likely to live in private lettings, but also that there is a greater likelihood that they will end up in poor conditions. The report outlines practical solutions that local authorities, housing providers and voluntary and community groups have developed to bring about improvements. This breakfast briefing will discuss the findings and how they are being followed up.
Jon Simmons, Home Office, gives a talk for the COMPAS breakfast briefing series. Movements of people are undoubtedly difficult to measure and irregular or illegal activities more so. It is no wonder then that Migration statistics are often criticised and yet the United Kingdom has available to it a wide range of data on migration and arguably some of the best migration statistics in the world. At this breakfast briefing Jon Simmons will draw on the latest ONS statistics published at the end of August along with other sources to highlight some of the longer-term trends and provide some insights from the data. The talk will make the data accessible and should be of interest to both statistics experts and interested amateurs.
Vidhya Ramalingam, The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, gives a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series. Western Europe has in recent decades grappled with the challenges of building cohesive and equal societies in the face of increasing diversity and new flows of migration. Various models for integration have been tried and tested across Western Europe, and though the investment of time and money has been significant, the results have been mixed, with inequality remaining rife and hostility to immigration on the rise. What little has been done to evaluate such initiatives has mostly been limited to basic studies to fulfill funder reporting requirements, focusing on monies spent, activities conducted, processes and outputs rather than on whether projects, programmes or policies have delivered their broad intended outcomes. In this briefing, ISD presents the results of a one-year project (supported by the Open Society Institute, Brussels) setting out a new framework for understanding and measuring what works in integration projects and initiatives. As part of this project, ISD has undertaken research in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden to identify best practices, lessons learnt, and the tools and resources required for successful integration programmes. Drawing on these case studies, the briefing will set out key elements for success in integration and recommendations for governments to achieve these ends
Shereen Hussein talks about migrants and long term/social care. She looks at what is meant my international migrants and at what constitutes long term care in the labour market sector. She also looks at the relevant work force. COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2011: Filling the Gaps on the Impacts of Immigration. There is much discussion about the optimal number and desirable characteristics of migrants. A key aspect of this discussion is the impact of immigration on the receiving society, including impacts on the provision of certain services, crime, local wages, social cohesion, neighbourhood dynamics and housing. In some cases, the academic research on these impacts has not kept pace with the policy discussion. As a result, in many cases, policies are based on assumptions, rather than facts. In other cases, there is academic research on the impact, but has been ignored in policy creation. This seminar series hopes to shed light on these issues by exploring the impacts of immigration on receiving countries.
Talk based on a UK wide study of immigration an social cohesion, done between 2005-2008. Exploring the lived lives and practices of new immigrants as well as the long term settled population and through this consider social cohesion policies in the UK. COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2011: Filling the Gaps on the Impacts of Immigration. There is much discussion about the optimal number and desirable characteristics of migrants. A key aspect of this discussion is the impact of immigration on the receiving society, including impacts on the provision of certain services, crime, local wages, social cohesion, neighbourhood dynamics and housing. In some cases, the academic research on these impacts has not kept pace with the policy discussion. As a result, in many cases, policies are based on assumptions, rather than facts. In other cases, there is academic research on the impact, but has been ignored in policy creation. This seminar series hopes to shed light on these issues by exploring the impacts of immigration on receiving countries.
Looking at new migration and large scale migration since the early to mid 90's, reflecting on local impacts. He looks at neighbourhood effects of immigration, and local experiences of those arriving to and those already living in a particular place. COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2011: Filling the Gaps on the Impacts of Immigration. There is much discussion about the optimal number and desirable characteristics of migrants. A key aspect of this discussion is the impact of immigration on the receiving society, including impacts on the provision of certain services, crime, local wages, social cohesion, neighbourhood dynamics and housing. In some cases, the academic research on these impacts has not kept pace with the policy discussion. As a result, in many cases, policies are based on assumptions, rather than facts. In other cases, there is academic research on the impact, but has been ignored in policy creation. This seminar series hopes to shed light on these issues by exploring the impacts of immigration on receiving countries.
Cinizia Rienzo discusses wage inequality and immigration in the US and the UK. She assesses if there is a relationship between the increasing number of immigrants and the increasing levels of wage inequality seen in both countries. COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2011: Filling the Gaps on the Impacts of Immigration. There is much discussion about the optimal number and desirable characteristics of migrants. A key aspect of this discussion is the impact of immigration on the receiving society, including impacts on the provision of certain services, crime, local wages, social cohesion, neighbourhood dynamics and housing. In some cases, the academic research on these impacts has not kept pace with the policy discussion. As a result, in many cases, policies are based on assumptions, rather than facts. In other cases, there is academic research on the impact, but has been ignored in policy creation. This seminar series hopes to shed light on these issues by exploring the impacts of immigration on receiving countries.
Looking at trust of one's own ethnic group and trust of other ethnic groups and how this is related to both contact and possible conflict in the neighbourhood setting. COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2011: Filling the Gaps on the Impacts of Immigration. There is much discussion about the optimal number and desirable characteristics of migrants. A key aspect of this discussion is the impact of immigration on the receiving society, including impacts on the provision of certain services, crime, local wages, social cohesion, neighbourhood dynamics and housing. In some cases, the academic research on these impacts has not kept pace with the policy discussion. As a result, in many cases, policies are based on assumptions, rather than facts. In other cases, there is academic research on the impact, but has been ignored in policy creation. This seminar series hopes to shed light on these issues by exploring the impacts of immigration on receiving countries.
Brian Bell looks at the relationship between crime and immigration in the UK. He considers the relevant literature, political motivations, and the particular group of immigrants that his research focuses on. COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2011: Filling the Gaps on the Impacts of Immigration. There is much discussion about the optimal number and desirable characteristics of migrants. A key aspect of this discussion is the impact of immigration on the receiving society, including impacts on the provision of certain services, crime, local wages, social cohesion, neighbourhood dynamics and housing. In some cases, the academic research on these impacts has not kept pace with the policy discussion. As a result, in many cases, policies are based on assumptions, rather than facts. In other cases, there is academic research on the impact, but has been ignored in policy creation. This seminar series hopes to shed light on these issues by exploring the impacts of immigration on receiving countries.
Migration is presumed to be a major driver of change at the neighborhood level. What is the evidence? This briefing explores current understanding and evidence about the neighborhood changes associated with new migration. Particular attention is focused on community challenges and lessons learned about managing these changes. Topical, cutting edge research on migration and migration related issues will be made accessible to an audience of policy makers and other research users. Questions and discussion will follow the presentations on the potential implications for policy and practice.
Nicholas de Genoa discusses urbanisation, and how migration is remaking cities, the spatial practice of migrants and their experience and how this can reconceptualise emergent formations of social and political rights. Migration scholars and NGOs have often sought to disassociate popular associations between criminality and immigration: migrants are not criminals, nor are they necessarily more likely to commit crime. But this risks ignoring important relationships between immigration and criminality, both 'immigrant' and 'criminal' for example, are set in opposition to the (good) citizen, both are important administrative categories for states, and comprise groups upon whom the state can exercise significant degrees of coercion. Both are highly racialised. There are also historical continuities: mobility has long been associated with criminality, through vagabondage and the problem of 'masterless men', gypsies and Roma, and 'illegal immigrants'. Both groups can share social and political disabilities - in the US former prisoners are not eligible for further education grants, cannot access welfare payments or food stamps, and in 10 states, are denied the right to vote for life. This seminar series will interrogate the relation between immigration, criminality and citizenship, by exploring these issues.
Ash Amin discusses his new book, "Land of Strangers: From a Politics of Social Ties to a Politics of the Commons". He states that the impersonality of social relationships in the society of strangers is making majorities increasingly nostalgic for a time of closer personal ties and strong community moorings. Whereas multiculturalism has been steadily 'downgraded' on the policy agenda both in the UK and other parts of Europe during the 2000s, social life at neighbourhood level is increasingly characterised by an everyday negotiation of categorical boundaries such as migration histories, religions, migrant statuses, and socio-economic disparities. This series will focus on emerging empirical research and methodologies that engage with such localised, intercultural processes. The presentations are based on findings from a range of different settings, including London, northern England, the Netherlands and Germany, and also focusing on new 'zones of encounter' that go beyond the traditional inner-city perspective.
Talja Blokland discusses notions of ethnicity, community, integration and migration, using empirical data to make a theoretical argument. She uses the notion of homophiliy - the idea that people that are similar come together. Whereas multiculturalism has been steadily 'downgraded' on the policy agenda both in the UK and other parts of Europe during the 2000s, social life at neighbourhood level is increasingly characterised by an everyday negotiation of categorical boundaries such as migration histories, religions, migrant statuses, and socio-economic disparities. This series will focus on emerging empirical research and methodologies that engage with such localised, intercultural processes. The presentations are based on findings from a range of different settings, including London, northern England, the Netherlands and Germany, and also focusing on new 'zones of encounter' that go beyond the traditional inner-city perspective.
Jayani Bonnerjee looks at the connections between Anglo-Indian and Chinese communities in Calcutta through the space of neighbourhood and how the memory of neighbourhood carries over into diasporas. Whereas multiculturalism has been steadily 'downgraded' on the policy agenda both in the UK and other parts of Europe during the 2000s, social life at neighbourhood level is increasingly characterised by an everyday negotiation of categorical boundaries such as migration histories, religions, migrant statuses, and socio-economic disparities. This series will focus on emerging empirical research and methodologies that engage with such localised, intercultural processes. The presentations are based on findings from a range of different settings, including London, northern England, the Netherlands and Germany, and also focusing on new 'zones of encounter' that go beyond the traditional inner-city perspective.
David Gilbert considers the relationship between faith and suburbia with focus on migration. Part of the OMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2012: Everyday multiculturalism. Whereas multiculturalism has been steadily 'downgraded' on the policy agenda both in the UK and other parts of Europe during the 2000s, social life at neighbourhood level is increasingly characterised by an everyday negotiation of categorical boundaries such as migration histories, religions, migrant statuses, and socio-economic disparities. This series will focus on emerging empirical research and methodologies that engage with such localised, intercultural processes. The presentations are based on findings from a range of different settings, including London, northern England, the Netherlands and Germany, and also focusing on new 'zones of encounter' that go beyond the traditional inner-city perspective.
Katharine Tyler speaks about her new book, which explores what it means to be white modern post-colonial societies, drawing on her fieldwork in semi-rural, rural and urban spaces in Leicestershire. Whereas multiculturalism has been steadily 'downgraded' on the policy agenda both in the UK and other parts of Europe during the 2000s, social life at neighbourhood level is increasingly characterised by an everyday negotiation of categorical boundaries such as migration histories, religions, migrant statuses, and socio-economic disparities. This series will focus on emerging empirical research and methodologies that engage with such localised, intercultural processes. The presentations are based on findings from a range of different settings, including London, northern England, the Netherlands and Germany, and also focusing on new 'zones of encounter' that go beyond the traditional inner-city perspective.
Analysing the relationship between whiteness and Englishness, looking at processes of social inclusion and exclusion in the countryside, the migration of Eastern European workers to the countryside and rural discourses of community and multi-culture. hereas multiculturalism has been steadily 'downgraded' on the policy agenda both in the UK and other parts of Europe during the 2000s, social life at neighbourhood level is increasingly characterised by an everyday negotiation of categorical boundaries such as migration histories, religions, migrant statuses, and socio-economic disparities. This series will focus on emerging empirical research and methodologies that engage with such localised, intercultural processes. The presentations are based on findings from a range of different settings, including London, northern England, the Netherlands and Germany, and also focusing on new 'zones of encounter' that go beyond the traditional inner-city perspective.
Sarah Hackett explores the idea of the neighbourhood as a site where citizenship is practiced and negotiated, with particular focus on historical developments and settlements in Newcastle, UK and Bremen, Germany. Whereas multiculturalism has been steadily 'downgraded' on the policy agenda both in the UK and other parts of Europe during the 2000s, social life at neighbourhood level is increasingly characterised by an everyday negotiation of categorical boundaries such as migration histories, religions, migrant statuses, and socio-economic disparities. This series will focus on emerging empirical research and methodologies that engage with such localised, intercultural processes. The presentations are based on findings from a range of different settings, including London, northern England, the Netherlands and Germany, and also focusing on new 'zones of encounter' that go beyond the traditional inner-city perspective.
Deborah Phillips explores the 'neighbourhood' as a site where citizenship is practices and negotiated. She focuses particularly on the experiences of British Muslims in Bradford in their encounters with new migrants. Whereas multiculturalism has been steadily 'downgraded' on the policy agenda both in the UK and other parts of Europe during the 2000s, social life at neighbourhood level is increasingly characterised by an everyday negotiation of categorical boundaries such as migration histories, religions, migrant statuses, and socio-economic disparities. This series will focus on emerging empirical research and methodologies that engage with such localised, intercultural processes. The presentations are based on findings from a range of different settings, including London, northern England, the Netherlands and Germany, and also focusing on new 'zones of encounter' that go beyond the traditional inner-city perspective.
Four experts discuss their practical experiences of migrants' access to services and exclusion from services. Part of the COMPAS Seminar Series: Migrants and welfare states: inclusion or exclusion? he aim of the series is to explore the relationship between the development of welfare states and the framework of entitlements and restrictions for migrants found in entry and settlement criteria, with the second half of the series focusing on the implications of welfare state inclusion or exclusion for the economic, social and civic participation of migrants.
Professor Glover outlined the moral panic around aliens and Chinese labour in the 1906 election, relating the debate to the 1905 Aliens Act and to Chinese indentured layout to South Africa. Migration scholars and NGOs have often sought to disassociate popular associations between criminality and immigration: migrants are not criminals, nor are they necessarily more likely to commit crime. But this risks ignoring important relationships between immigration and criminality, both 'immigrant' and 'criminal' for example, are set in opposition to the (good) citizen, both are important administrative categories for states, and comprise groups upon whom the state can exercise significant degrees of coercion. Both are highly racialised. There are also historical continuities: mobility has long been associated with criminality, through vagabondage and the problem of 'masterless men', gypsies and Roma, and 'illegal immigrants'. Both groups can share social and political disabilities - in the US former prisoners are not eligible for further education grants, cannot access welfare payments or food stamps, and in 10 states, are denied the right to vote for life. This seminar series will interrogate the relation between immigration, criminality and citizenship, by exploring these issues.
Eleonore Kofman discusses gender's role in relation to integration discourses, policies and practices. Part of the Interrogating Integration: Discourses, Policies and Everyday Practices (COMPAS Seminar Series Michaelmas 2010) Series. Integration is a term that is used in many different places and contexts and is increasingly prominent within public debates about migration in the UK and elsewhere in the West. 'Integration' remains vague in definition, which is perhaps one reason it can be useful in many varying contexts. Is it a new assimilationism, a reactionary retreat from multiculturalism, or a progressive, dynamic model for thinking about diversity? How does it relate to cohesion, to transnationalism and to cosmopolitanism? Can, and should, it be measured and monitored? How is it framed in relation to the different scales of governance and belonging, from the neighbourhood to the 'super-diverse' city to the nation-state? This seminar series brings together scholars working ethnographically on everyday practices of integration with scholars working on the production, reproduction and contestation of integration discourse.
Adrian Favell discusses his book 'Philosophies of Integration', taking a theoretical and philosophical approach to integration. Integration is a term that is used in many different places and contexts and is increasingly prominent within public debates about migration in the UK and elsewhere in the West. 'Integration' remains vague in definition, which is perhaps one reason it can be useful in many varying contexts. Is it a new assimilationism, a reactionary retreat from multiculturalism, or a progressive, dynamic model for thinking about diversity? How does it relate to cohesion, to transnationalism and to cosmopolitanism? Can, and should, it be measured and monitored? How is it framed in relation to the different scales of governance and belonging, from the neighbourhood to the 'super-diverse' city to the nation-state? This seminar series brings together scholars working ethnographically on everyday practices of integration with scholars working on the production, reproduction and contestation of integration discourse.
Paul Baker talks about how asylums seekers and refugees were presented in the national press and the variations in discourses over time and across types of press. As migration to the UK has increased in number over the past decade or more, it has become a highly salient, heavily contested political issue as well. Migration as an 'issue' is now a focal point for British public opinion, media coverage, and political debate. This term's seminar examines the relationships among these elements. We will examine how migration is represented in the media, and how media consumption can in turn construct the migrant experience as well. We will examine how various segments of the British public understand migration as a political issue, and how migration may be in turn transforming British politics. We will also take revealing looks at how migration policy and migration-related media coverage are generated, from both insiders' and outsiders' perspectives.
Talk looking at the ways in which public administration and policy makers make use of academic research immigration policy making, looking at the British Home Office, the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees and the European Commission. As migration to the UK has increased in number over the past decade or more, it has become a highly salient, heavily contested political issue as well. Migration as an 'issue' is now a focal point for British public opinion, media coverage, and political debate. This term's seminar examines the relationships among these elements. We will examine how migration is represented in the media, and how media consumption can in turn construct the migrant experience as well. We will examine how various segments of the British public understand migration as a political issue, and how migration may be in turn transforming British politics. We will also take revealing looks at how migration policy and migration-related media coverage are generated, from both insiders' and outsiders' perspectives.
Lauren McLaren looks at immigration and political trust, with focus on recent research data. Part of the Public Opinion, Media and the Politics of Migration(COMPAS Seminar Series Hilary 2011) series. As migration to the UK has increased in number over the past decade or more, it has become a highly salient, heavily contested political issue as well. Migration as an 'issue' is now a focal point for British public opinion, media coverage, and political debate. This term's seminar examines the relationships among these elements. We will examine how migration is represented in the media, and how media consumption can in turn construct the migrant experience as well. We will examine how various segments of the British public understand migration as a political issue, and how migration may be in turn transforming British politics. We will also take revealing looks at how migration policy and migration-related media coverage are generated, from both insiders' and outsiders' perspectives.
Anne Kershen discusses the comparisons between immigrant settlements in Shropshire and London's Tower Hamlets, exploring different issues of the migrant experience arising in the two areas. Integration is a term that is used in many different places and contexts and is increasingly prominent within public debates about migration in the UK and elsewhere in the West. 'Integration' remains vague in definition, which is perhaps one reason it can be useful in many varying contexts. Is it a new assimilationism, a reactionary retreat from multiculturalism, or a progressive, dynamic model for thinking about diversity? How does it relate to cohesion, to transnationalism and to cosmopolitanism? Can, and should, it be measured and monitored? How is it framed in relation to the different scales of governance and belonging, from the neighbourhood to the 'super-diverse' city to the nation-state? This seminar series brings together scholars working ethnographically on everyday practices of integration with scholars working on the production, reproduction and contestation of integration discourse.
Myria Georgiou talks about uses of transnational television among Arab speaking populations in Europe to explore questions around citizenship. As migration to the UK has increased in number over the past decade or more, it has become a highly salient, heavily contested political issue as well. Migration as an 'issue' is now a focal point for British public opinion, media coverage, and political debate. This term's seminar examines the relationships among these elements. We will examine how migration is represented in the media, and how media consumption can in turn construct the migrant experience as well. We will examine how various segments of the British public understand migration as a political issue, and how migration may be in turn transforming British politics. We will also take revealing looks at how migration policy and migration-related media coverage are generated, from both insiders' and outsiders' perspectives.
Scott Blinder discusses the portrayal of the British public's opinion on migration, and the reality behind it. Part of the Public Opinion, Media and the Politics of Migration(COMPAS Seminar Series Hilary 2011) series. As migration to the UK has increased in number over the past decade or more, it has become a highly salient, heavily contested political issue as well. Migration as an 'issue' is now a focal point for British public opinion, media coverage, and political debate. This term's seminar examines the relationships among these elements. We will examine how migration is represented in the media, and how media consumption can in turn construct the migrant experience as well. We will examine how various segments of the British public understand migration as a political issue, and how migration may be in turn transforming British politics. We will also take revealing looks at how migration policy and migration-related media coverage are generated, from both insiders' and outsiders' perspectives.
Sergio Carrera examines how the process of Europeanization, the development of the European Union, has played a role in migration law and on the meaning and mechanisms of integration. 'Integration' is a term that is used in many different places and contexts and is increasingly prominent within public debates about migration in the UK and elsewhere in the West. 'Integration' remains vague in definition, which is perhaps one reason it can be useful in many varying contexts. Is it a new assimilationism, a reactionary retreat from multiculturalism, or a progressive, dynamic model for thinking about diversity? How does it relate to cohesion, to transnationalism and to cosmopolitanism? Can, and should, it be measured and monitored? How is it framed in relation to the different scales of governance and belonging, from the neighbourhood to the 'super-diverse' city to the nation-state? This seminar series brings together scholars working ethnographically on everyday practices of integration with scholars working on the production, reproduction and contestation of integration discourse.
Discussion on the problematic of discussing integration in a context of security enforcement policies in the US and neoliberal policies, with a focus on immigrants in the US/Mexico border region and in the US as a whole. 'Integration' is a term that is used in many different places and contexts and is increasingly prominent within public debates about migration in the UK and elsewhere in the West. 'Integration' remains vague in definition, which is perhaps one reason it can be useful in many varying contexts. Is it a new assimilationism, a reactionary retreat from multiculturalism, or a progressive, dynamic model for thinking about diversity? How does it relate to cohesion, to transnationalism and to cosmopolitanism? Can, and should, it be measured and monitored? How is it framed in relation to the different scales of governance and belonging, from the neighbourhood to the 'super-diverse' city to the nation-state? This seminar series brings together scholars working ethnographically on everyday practices of integration with scholars working on the production, reproduction and contestation of integration discourse.
The EU Enlargement of 2004 entailed an intensive large-scale migration wave from Eastern European countries to the UK, in particular from Poland.
There is a very significant tension at the heart of UK immigration policy. Basic economic intuition, as well as considerable empirical evidence, suggests that skilled immigrants will benefit the economy.
Thomas Huddleston discusses European integration policies and access to health care and other benefits, in light of recent MPG research.
Sarah van Walsum discusses Dutch and EU law's approach to care work and protection of rights.
Aoife Nolan (Durham Law School) takes us through the relationship between migrants' rights and international human rights instruments. The aim of the series is to explore the relationship between the development of welfare states and the framework of entitlements and restrictions for migrants found in entry and settlement criteria, with the second half of the series focusing on the implications of welfare state inclusion or exclusion for the economic, social and civic participation of migrants.
The government and the media regularly make the case that migration must be restricted in order to ensure community cohesion and encourage integration. To shed light on the relationship, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recently commissioned a major report on the impacts of migration on cohesion and integration. This month's presenters include three of the four authors of that report and they will reflect on the findings of their research. They will also discuss what the findings mean for policymakers.
Lydia Morris discusses the stratification of rights as a way to explain rights given or constrained by the state, in the migration context.
Virginie Guiraudon takes an interdisciplinary look at social and human rights and anti-discrimination laws, giving a historical, legal and sociological perspective, as well as considering the European situation.
Becky Taylor discusses issues of entitlement, belonging and outsiderness for Britain's Gypsy travellers in the 20th century, with a focus on housing, education and perception.
Jon Simmons, Director for Migration and Border analysis in the Home Office Science Directorate gives a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series.
Sarah Spencer, COMPAS, Oxford University, gives a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series. David Cameron, speaking in April, said that 'immigration is a hugely emotive subject . . . and it's a debate too often in the past shaped by assertions rather than substantive arguments... (We need) to cut through the extremes of this debate and approach the subject sensibly and reasonably.' The first in COMPAS's 2011/12 Breakfast Briefing series suggests how we might do this. It explores the following questions: What are the pressures and constraints that have shaped this rapidly shifting policy terrain? How can we assess the trade-offs involved in our policy options? What could be the foundation for a less polarised, better-informed public debate? Do we need to start by seeking consensus on a fundamental question about migration policy that is rarely discussed: what exactly is it that we are trying to achieve?
Professor David Feldman, historian, describes the "welfare chauvinism" existing in Britain since the 18th century. By this he means that welfare systems were maintained but reformed so as to exclude 'outsiders' (internal and international migrants). He refers to Britain's 'poor law' and the development of the welfare system up to the late 1990's, to include or exclude migrants. He also discusses the argument that welfare states need to be founded in a 'homogenous' society, and that that homogeneity is institutionalised. Migration scholars and NGOs have often sought to disassociate popular associations between criminality and immigration: migrants are not criminals, nor are they necessarily more likely to commit crime. But this risks ignoring important relationships between immigration and criminality, both 'immigrant' and 'criminal' for example, are set in opposition to the (good) citizen, both are important administrative categories for states, and comprise groups upon whom the state can exercise significant degrees of coercion. Both are highly racialised. There are also historical continuities: mobility has long been associated with criminality, through vagabondage and the problem of 'masterless men', gypsies and Roma, and 'illegal immigrants'. Both groups can share social and political disabilities - in the US former prisoners are not eligible for further education grants, cannot access welfare payments or food stamps, and in 10 states, are denied the right to vote for life. This seminar series will interrogate the relation between immigration, criminality and citizenship, by exploring these issues.
Dr. Ilsen About takes us through the fascinating development of technology used by police in the early 1900's to allow for the identification of criminals internationally, known as 'distant identification'. This development began before the establishment Interpol's forerunner. The attempt to develop an international language and index to identify criminals that were moving across borders saw several ups and downs. Migration scholars and NGOs have often sought to disassociate popular associations between criminality and immigration: migrants are not criminals, nor are they necessarily more likely to commit crime. But this risks ignoring important relationships between immigration and criminality, both 'immigrant' and 'criminal' for example, are set in opposition to the (good) citizen, both are important administrative categories for states, and comprise groups upon whom the state can exercise significant degrees of coercion. Both are highly racialised. There are also historical continuities: mobility has long been associated with criminality, through vagabondage and the problem of 'masterless men', gypsies and Roma, and 'illegal immigrants'. Both groups can share social and political disabilities - in the US former prisoners are not eligible for further education grants, cannot access welfare payments or food stamps, and in 10 states, are denied the right to vote for life. This seminar series will interrogate the relation between immigration, criminality and citizenship, by exploring these issues.
Part of the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series. his briefing presents newly completed research from the UK case study of the EUMARGINS project which explores the inclusion and exclusion of young adult immigrants in seven European countries. The briefing focuses on the consequences that the restrictions and regulations imposed on young migrants have on their daily lives and sense of the future. A picture of young migrant London is drawn from thirty detailed biographical case studies where young migrants have been the active observers of their own lives. The briefing argues that the debate about migration is dogged by policy promises that are unrealistic and impossible to deliver. It calls for more a more attainable, pragmatic and human turn in immigration policy that de-regulates the migrant experience and harnesses their desire to contribute and build communities of diversity.
Allan Findlay, Professor of Population Geography, School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St. Andrews, gives a talk for the COMPAS breakfast briefing series. The impact of global climate change on human mobility and migration has been in the news recently because of the landmark publication of the Foresight research, Migration and Global Environmental Change, a two year study led by the UK Government Office for Science, which drew on a major body of evidence produced by several experts from across the globe to understand how diverse environmental changes will converge on populations between now and 2060; as well as the profound consequences for those who move and for those who stay behind, and also for the regions of origin and destination. This month's presenter, Allan Findlay, was involved in two of the reports that formed part of the Foresight programme's massive evidence base. However, Allan Findlay has been writing on migration in a number of capacities and in this briefing will be reflecting on the evidence that he has developed in his career, to explore some of the possible implications for migration policy. The research is part of the programme of the ESRC Centre for Population Change (CPC), which is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as the UK's first research centre on population change. Based jointly at the University of Southampton and the National Records of Scotland, CPC brings together expertise from the Universities of Southampton, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Stirling and Dundee.
David Glover, University of Southampton, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series on 10th November 2011. Professor Glover outlined the moral panic around aliens and Chinese labour in the 1906 election, relating the debate to the 1905 Aliens Act and to Chinese indentured layout to South Africa. He showed very interesting visual representations of Chinese labourers in political campaign literature of the day.
Retired immigration lawyer Fran Webber goes through case law pre and post the entry into force of the Human Rights Act. Examining the changes created by the Act, the reactions to it, the interpretation of the Act and the affect this has on the human rights of foreign national prisoners, refugees and asylum seekers and suspected terrorists. Part of the COMPAS breakfast briefing series.
Bridget Anderson, COMPAS, Oxford University, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series entitled' 'A Chrysalis for every kind of criminal? Mobility, Crime and Citizenship'.
Podcast on what migration means for 'White Working Class' in the UK, Ben Rogaly and Becky Taylor present their research findings. Politicians from a wide variety of political perspectives have invoked 'the white working class' in immigration debates, while evidence shows that many who fit this category are now out-performed on many indices of deprivation and educational attainment by ethnic minorities from migrant backgrounds. But what is the actual evidence for the impact of migration on "white working class" communities? What are the policy implications of the evidence? And how helpful are the terms of the debate in the first place? This briefing will be presented by Dr Ben Rogaly, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Sussex and a member of the Sussex Centre for Migration Research. The paperback edition of his book with Becky Taylor, Moving Histories of Class and Community: Identity, Place and Belonging in Contemporary England, is published by Macmillan in March.
This briefing presents a profile of Britain's new citizens, and what we can learn from them about the relationship between settlement, citizenship and integration. The Integration and Citizenship project, delivered jointly by COMPAS and Birkbeck, University of London, and funded by the European Union, surveyed a large sample of people who applied for British citizenship last year, and conducted in-depth follow-up interviews with some of them. The research explored their journey from arrival to settlement to citizenship, their experiences of the naturalisation process (including the Life in the UK test), and their integration in terms of social interaction, local belonging and feelings of Britishness. Part of the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing Series; topical, cutting edge research on migration and migration related issues will be made accessible to an audience of policy makers and other research users. Questions and discussion will follow the presentations on the potential implications for policy and practice.
Exactly how does the UKís policy framework measure up to other countries in Europe and North America? What has changed? And how can UK policymakers and stakeholders use the MIPEX comparative data and trends to promote integration through new national policies? MIPEX, the Migrant Integration Policy Index, is a fully interactive tool and reference guide to assess, compare and improve integration policy. The tool is produced by the British Council and the Migration Policy Group, with UK national partners Runnymede Trust and Immigration Advisory Service. In the new edition, the UK fell by more points on the index than any other country, and out of the Top 10. Part of the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series; topical, cutting edge research on migration and migration related issues will be made accessible to an audience of policy makers and other research users. Questions and discussion will follow the presentations on the potential implications for policy and practice.
Informed public debate and evidence-based policy-making on immigration requires clarity and transparency about what we know and don't know about migration and its impacts. The Migration Observatory (www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk), a new project of COMPAS, recently published a report on the ten most important problems in the evidence base on immigration and migrants in the UK (www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/top-ten/overview). Part of the COMPAS Breakfast Breifing series; topical, cutting edge research on migration and migration related issues will be made accessible to an audience of policy makers and other research users. Questions and discussion will follow the presentations on the potential implications for policy and practice.
The Coalition government's policy agenda on 'the Big Society' marks a major shift in the landscape. It has been described as radically passing power from the state to citizens and civil society. What does it mean for migrants, for migrant community organisations, and for communities where migrants live? What opportunities and threats does it bring for the sector? And is there any evidence yet on the impact of the new agenda? This briefing will be presented by Vaughan Jones, Chief Executive of Praxis, a community-based organisation working with migrants in London. Part of COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series: topical, cutting edge research on migration and migration related issues will be made accessible to an audience of policy makers and other research users. Questions and discussion will follow the presentations on the potential implications for policy and practice.
Prof Dr. Ahmet Icduygu, Migration Research Centre, Koc University, Istanbul, gives the first in a new series on Turkish Migration for COMPAS. Turkey has long been a major sending country of migrants and there are 3.7 million Turks and their descendants now living in the EU. However, Turkey has increasingly become a receiving and transit country for migrants. Its population is likely to grow from 75 to 90 million between now and 2050 but is already undergoing demographic transformation and has begun ageing. The Turkish economy is amongst the fastest growing in the OECD, and Turkey is becoming a strong regional power; it thus has potential to become a new gravity centre in the Mediterranean migration system. It is even suggested by some sources that Turkey should become a member of the Rising Powers group, also known as the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). These and other issues will be explored by the newly founded Turkish Migration Studies group. This seminar will present state of the art of research and is the first of a new series.
Immigrant studies contrasts between foreign-born and their progeny born where they resettle. Eckstein shows how analyses leave undocumented and unexplained differences among first generation immigrants, rooted in different pre-migration experiences.
Michele Ford explores international organizing around temporary labour migration in Southeast Asia, while Nicola Piper examines temporary contract migration in Asia, revisited from an integrated rights perspective.
Sarah Croft (Office for National Statistics) gives a talk for the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series on December 10th, 2010.
Martin Ruhs and Bridget Anderson (COMPAS, University of Oxford) give a COMPAS Breakfast Briefing on 11th November 2010.
Ursula Kelly, University of Strathclyde delivers a COMPAS Breakfast Briefing on 8th October 2010.