HOW CURRENT INTEGRATION POLICY RESHAPE THE SOCIAL NETWORK

How current Integration Policy Reshape The Social Network

Abstract

Integration and how it is to be achieved have only recently become objects of policy and discussion in UK. Approaches to integration in UK are influenced by: the current integration policies of those countries with longer experiences of immigration; EU policy; and the specificity of the Irish experience of migration. The Republic of UK is an interesting example of a state that is simultaneously involved in policy initiatives that promote the integration of Irish emigrants and their descendents as immigrant communities in their countries of destination and the integration of immigrants in UK, including return Irish migrants. This article challenges the assumption that non-integration is the main problem facing emigrants abroad and immigrants to UK and argues that the mode and degree of migrant integration (however understood) depends on a wide and changing range of factors and can take place, in spite of, just as much as because of integration policies and initiativesThe article argues that integration polices as formulated by the EU and national governments can be seen as nationalist practices of belonging that reproduce national boundaries of inclusion and exclusion. They rely on assumptions about migration and the territorialized nation-state that cannot hold in the face of the speed of capitalist development, which demands a rethinking of the fantasy that national spaces, borders and populations can be managed and controlled.

Table of contents

Abstract2

Introduction4

Dispersal policies6

Emphasis of RCO and its importance8

Restrictionism making asylum seekers, refugee and destitute9

Discussion11

Conclusion18

References20

How current Integration Policy Reshape The Social Network

Introduction

During the Irish Presidency of the EU, January - June 2004, the Department of Social and Family Affairs, with the support of the European Commission, hosted a conference on the topic of 'Reconciling Mobility and Social Inclusion' in Bundoran, Co Donegal. The Conference took place in April just before the accession of 10 new member states to the EU on May 1, 2004. It brought together experts and policy makers from the EEA countries, the EU Commission, academic institutions, social partners, and NGOs based in UK, Britain, USA and Australia. The aim was to address the EU goal of promoting the mobility of workers and consider policies for responding appropriately to the vulnerabilities that can arise in some cases as a result of this mobility. Most contributors focused, therefore, on the interconnections between a labour market policy that requires worker mobility and policies of social inclusion/integration. Insofar as the conference was planned with a view to learning from UK's history of emigration and services to emigrants abroad, the deliberations maintained a focus on the fact that immigrants are also emigrants. The integration and well-being of migrants are identified here as the responsibilities of both the sending and receiving countries. Although the politics of migration have always been marked by relations between countries of emigration and immigration, it is only recently that sending countries have developed policy initiatives to include emigrants in the nation. This often involves a simultaneous redefinition of the ...