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2 - Theorizing Immigration Policy

Veto Points and the Insulation Logics of Policy Arenas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2021

Antje Ellermann
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Summary

This chapter presents the book’s policy arenas framework which seeks to account for the direction and magnitude of immigration reform. Whether policy reform will liberalize or restrict immigration will depend on policy makers’ insulation from four actors with distinct sets of preferences: domestically, the general public and interest groups; internationally, immigrant sending states and immigrant receiving states. Whereas insulation from popular pressure and from diplomatic pressure by receiving states will allow for policy liberalization, insulation from interest groups and sending states will move policy in the direction of immigration restriction. Which of these pressures policy makers are exposed to will vary across policy arenas. The chapter then turns its attention to the policy path itself, distinguishing between constitutional rules and political strategy. Constitutional rules define the arenas through which a policy proposal must minimally pass. Oftentimes informed by policy learning, political strategy can account for variation in policy paths over time in a given constitutional context. The chapter then theorizes the magnitude of policy change by distinguishing between incremental and paradigmatic immigration reform. The success of paradigmatic immigration reform will depend upon a highly restrictive set of conditions, most importantly, the absence of reform opponents with veto power.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Comparative Politics of Immigration
Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States
, pp. 50 - 83
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Theorizing Immigration Policy
  • Antje Ellermann, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: The Comparative Politics of Immigration
  • Online publication: 27 February 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316551103.002
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Theorizing Immigration Policy
  • Antje Ellermann, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: The Comparative Politics of Immigration
  • Online publication: 27 February 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316551103.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Theorizing Immigration Policy
  • Antje Ellermann, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: The Comparative Politics of Immigration
  • Online publication: 27 February 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316551103.002
Available formats
×