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Heft 1, 2001 |
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Migration
controversial - Integration policy in comparison Joachim Raschke: ‚That’s not the way to govern’. The Green Party and the experiment of a social democratic/green government coalition, FJ NSB 1/01, pp. 10-25.Joachim Raschke, a well-known expert on the German Greens, discusses the party’s structural deficits. The party has neither a stable strategic center nor a clear understanding of their basic ideas. Also their influence on governance is poor. Raschke compares the work of the Greens and the social democratic party and comes to the conclusion that the Greens are focused on expectational and success populism. The Greens have deficits with respect to leadership, organisation, identity and coherence of their position. In combination with their communication deficit their main problem is the presentation of achievements: They increased expectations among their constituency, instead of reducing them and pointing to the necessary compromises. The establishment of the new dual leadship by Fritz Kuhn and Renate Künast seemed to be a frist attempt for an efficient strategic center that was able to deal with the internal cleavages. However, the German BSE scandal and the necessity to appoint a Green minister for consumer protection and agriculture destroyed these hopes. By avoiding the left-wing Bärbel Höhn, the very influential Joschka Fischer, currently minister for the exterior, favoured instead Renate Künast. Thereby the Greens risk to loose their strategic center and fall back into times when conflicts between the party’s wings dominated. Tom Duyvene de Wit/Ruud Koopmans: The Political-Cultural Integration of Ethnic Minorities in the Netherlands and Germany, FJ NSB, 1/01, pp. 26-41.This article presents an analysis of the political-cultural integration of ethnic minorities in the Netherlands and Germany. We build on recent social movement literature, which stresses political and discursive opportunities and constraints that challenger groups face in attempting to realize social change. The opportunity structure with regard to the political-cultural integration of ethnic minorities is determined by the definitions of national identity and citizenship in the two countries. After a description of both the formal (i.e. formal access to citizenship rights) and cultural (i.e. cultural obligations tied to the national concept of citizenship) dimensions of citizenship in the two countries we conclude that the Dutch integration regime can be best defined as formally civic and culturally pluralist while the German regime most resembles the formally ethnic and culturally assimilationist model. The authors then proceed to establish the effect of this difference on the political claims by ethnic minorities, and find substantial differences in this regard between Germany and the Netherlands, most importantly: - a higher involvement of Dutch ethnic minorities in public debates on issues concerning ethnic relations - a far greater identification along national or ethnic categories among German ethnic minorities whereas in the Netherlands political claims by religious -and in particular, Muslim - groups are much more prevalent; - and finally a clearly greater concern with homeland politics issues by German ethnic minorities whereas Dutch ethnic minorities are more concerned with their integration into the country of settlement. Meindert Fennema/Jean Tillie: Civic Community, Political Participation and Political Trust - Ethnic Minorities in the Netherlands, FJ NSB, 1/01, pp. 42-58.Fennema and Tillie want to bridge the gap between all those researchers who in the trail of Almond and Verba’s „Civic Culture“ have investigated the relationship between civic culture and political participation and those that are primarily interested in multicultural democracy. In earlier research the authors have found a correlation between political participation and political trust of ethnic minorities on the one hand and the network of ethnic associations on the other. In this article they treat the network of ethnic organizations as a proxy for civic community. It is an established assumption that voluntary associations create social trust, which, in turn can spill over into political trust. But if voluntary associations generate trust why would interlocking directorates among such organizations add to it? Trust can travel trough a network of interlocking directorates and by doing so can increase. Civic community building is the creation of trust among organizations. Bottom up, increased social trust may generate political trust because the citizens feel that their leaders are competent to monitor local government. The rank and file see their leaders as their agents. Top down, interlocking directors can spread the political trust they themselves have within the ethnic community. By doing so, they act as an agent for the local government. In both cases the interlocking directors have an important broker function. Finally the authors discuss whether this civic community is generated by factors that stem from the political opportunity structure in the host country or whether more weight should be given to those cultural factors that originate in the country of origin. Jonathan Laurence: German Integration Policy in Trouble? Of Differing Support for Jewish and Turkish Communities in Berlin, FJ NSB, 1/01, pp. 59-71.In discussions of citizenship law and concepts of nationhood, Germany has served as a paradigm of ethno-cultural exclusivity. Until recent legislative changes, Germany adhered to the ius sanguinus principle where citizenship is acquired almost exclusively through German ancestry. This article explores attitudes and policies towards Jewish and Muslim immigrants in Berlin and Germany. Financial aid for the Jewish community and special immigration rights for Jews from the former Soviet Union are discussed, as well as why such exceptions are not made for Turkish Muslims, who arrived as guest-workers in the 1960s. The case study analyzes the reasons for differing local government support of the Jewish and Turkish communities in the capital city, Berlin. A series of interviews were conducted with influential city administrators and politicians and Jewish and Turkish leaders between autumn 1998 and summer 2000. This elite-centered approach sheds light on the motivations and the ways in which actors perceive and justify their actions in relation to minority policies. The main finding is that the notion of imagined community used by German elites leads to an institutionalized inclusive-minded policy towards Jews, regardless of nationality, and limited integration help for Turks. Paul Statham: Between Public Order and Political Influence: Mobilisation Against Racism and for Migration in Great Britain, FJ NSB, 1/01, pp. 72-86.Statham combines a ‘political opportunity approach’ from social movement theory with Olson’s concept of ‘selective incentives’, to analyse two cases of altruistic mobilisation in Britain: anti-racist mobilisation by the majority population against the inequality caused by racism and discrimination for ethnic minorities; and pro-migrant mobilisation by British nationals on behalf of groups without national or equivalent status. Previously, explanations for altruistic mobilisation -where constituencies mobilise on behalf of beneficiaries other than themselves- have been based on a search for 'good' individuals who contribute to a common public good more than their individual self-interest dictates. Instead the explanation here emphasises the importance of political context, and in particular the types of citizenship rights which states extend to migrant and ethnic minorities. The analysis uses an original data-set on political claims-making in immigration and ethnic relations politics, 1990-6. Facing a favourable political context defined by state sponsorship of ethnic minorities, many civil society actors -Trade Unions, Labour Party and cultural organisations- have 'incentives' to help themselves by adopting an anti-racist position. In contrast, the British state’s anti-migrant stance, means that fewer mainstream civil society actors have incentives to become allies of the pro-migrant challenge, and the movement is more isolated in the public domain. Hans-Jörg Trenz: Protest Mobilisation and Networks. Revitalisation or blockade in civil protest, FJ NSB, 1/01, pp. 87-98.The article analyses the changing patterns of mobilising political protest in the multi-level governance polity of the EU. As will be shown the emerging European political opportunity structure is providing a new transnational context for collective action. Under these conditions civic mobilisation shifts from „loud protest“ to silent lobbyism, to information politics and to monitoring. Avoiding the polarising forces of civic protest and contentious politics social movements emerge in the European sphere mainly as advocay coalitions applying and diffusing consensual word discourses. Anti-racism mobilisation in Europe shall illustrate these dynamics./p> Hartmut Behr: Migration and Transnational Society. In search of new Guidelines for Migration Policy, FJ NSB, 1/01, pp. 99-109.Current processes of globalisation and emerging ‚transnational societies’ are a new challenge for the regulation of international migration. The traditional paradigm in migration policy emphasising the congruence of ‚ethnos’ and ‚demos’ is highly problematic. Transnational societies cannot be regulated by national legislation. They form a totally new kind of society: the limits of a territorially organised society in a nation state is not any longer adequat. Therefore the article discusses the possibilities to control the emergence of transnational societies. The establishment of international migration regimes is a chance for nation states to regain control of political and societal developments./p>
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