Introduction

This book takes as its central empirical theme the interaction of migration, migration policies and social protection in Europe. It argues that migration and social policy governance in the European Union (EU) results in differentiated but co-existing modes of integration and segregation, inclusion and exclusion for migrants, with considerable variation between and within member states of the EU. These variations are produced and regulated by the interaction of social protection, welfare and migration policies, labour market structures, migration histories and available opportunities for social, political and cultural integration across the institutional architecture at local, national and EU levels.

There are therefore three elements to the empirical analysis presented in this book: the variation in policy combinations which interact in different settings and contexts; the existence of different institutional levels with different legal and policymaking roles, across which policy interactions are played out; and, finally, the consequent variation in modes of differential inclusion open for different migrant groups. These three elements are each given varying emphasis in the contributions to the book, depending on their case or their analytical focus. It is the way in which these elements are combined across the contributions in sum which form the book's empirical and analytical terrain: the interaction of social and migration policies in specific political, economic and social contexts, which affects migrants’ welfare, well-being and inclusion. This chapter sketches the overall treatment of these three elements that form the empirical scope of the book (variation of policy combinations; variation in institutional architecture and politics; variation in resulting integration and inclusion). Having established the book's empirical scope, we go on in this chapter to provide some more critical reflections on how we can interpret and explain the emergence of policy variation in complex and contentious policy fields, such as migration and migrant integration. For this, we turn particularly to the emerging US literature on the role of emotions in policymaking, much of which has developed, not accidentally, in relation to US immigration policy. Finally, we outline the individual contributions that make up this volume.