The political consequences of post-war migration to Western Europe of political refugees and migrant workers are examined in terms of their impact on the concept of membership of West European states and the rise of racism in some European countries. It is argued that permanent settlement has taken place and that positive political steps should be taken to suppress racism and to recognise that political refugees and migrant workers are members of their countries of residence. West European countries should thus facilitate political integration by easing naturalisation procedures, recognising dual nationality and allowing long-term residents, who do not wish to naturalise, to participate, at least in local decision-making. The second generation, often born in Western Europe, should have the automatic right, if they so wish, to citizenship in the country of their birth and residence.

This article explores the role of political, especially party, elites in the emergence of the politics of racism in France. It argues that these elites seem to have reacted more to the changing dynamics of the party system than to mass opinion in raising and exploiting the issues of race and immigration. The anti-immigrant feelings of the electorate were mobilised and provided with a political outlet by these changing dynamics. The electoral rise of the National Front and the decline of the Communist party have profoundly altered the dynamics of French electoral politics. Both of these phenomena are indirectly related to the immigration issue. The changing dynamics of the party system have in turn contributed significantly to the sustenance and development of immigration as an issue in French politics in the 1980s.

The political action of immigrant ethnic minorities in the Netherlands is examined in an attempt to assess the relevance of the neo-Marxist theory of the British sociologists Miles and Phizacklea, who identify three processes of political action: the black unity process, the class unity process and the ethnic organisation process. On the basis of available evidence from the Dutch case it is argued that in present circumstances neither black unity nor class unity are very likely, and that immigrants are likely to adopt an ethnic organisation perspective. Such a perspective is not due to racial exclusion within the working class. This conclusion differs from that of Miles and Phizacklea. It is shown that the theory applies to societies in which classes or class fractions can be clearly identified, but less to societies of another type such as the Dutch. Moreover, it is shown that Miles and Phizacklea tend to overemphasise the effects of native white racism on immigrant political action and neglect the dynamics of ethnicity and its mobilising force.

In this article a description of political participation of Yugoslav immigrants in Sweden is presented. First, the migration flow from Yugoslavia to Sweden is described briefly in the context of large-scale international labour migration in post-war Europe. Further, an empirical comparative analysis is carried out on the basis of the Swedish Level of Living Survey. The aim is to compare political participation of Yugoslavs and Swedes. As a comparison could be misleading without taking into account different demographic and social characteristics of the two groups, the so called ‘twin method’ has been used which enables a more accurate comparison to be made. Political resources of Yugoslavs are thus compared only with those of the comparable group of Swedes. Different dimensions of political participation are taken into account, such as degree of trade union organization, political activities, public opinion activities, and relations with public authorities.

In most Western European countries, market forces have dominated the specific institutional regulations and administrative procedures concerned with labour migration and employment of foreigners during both the period of recruitment until 1973, and the subsequent period of massive reduction. But politics obviously does matter, especially in the area of foreigners policy. Internationally, Austria represents the corporatist case, and it is interesting to analyse which aspects of its foreigners policy can be ascribed to elements of the political system. One of the most conspicuous is that the ‘foreigners problem’ has not been in the forefront of political discourse. A second feature is that the trade unions, which have strongly influenced decisions concerning employment and the legal status of foreign workers, have made little effort to represent the specific interests of their foreign members. In Austria, as in other countries of immigration, former guest-workers have been permanent residents for many years, but the relevant legislation has been virtually unchanged since 1975 and is still based on a guest-worker system. However, increasing unemployment and significant changes in the party system could result in foreigners policy playing a more important political role in the near future.

There have been three major periods of post-war migration to Switzerland. First the classic system of guestworker recruitment which lasted from 1948–1960. Second a period of political controversy from 1961–1978 concerned with ‘overforeignisation’ which brought about increased government intervention accompanied by a slight reduction in the foreign population. Recently Swiss labour recruitment has switched from yearly guestworker recruitment to seasonal workers and border commuters. This has lasted from 1979 to the present. Despite the fact that Switzerland has done very little to assist the integration of the immigrant population, they appear comparatively well integrated and surprisingly satisfied.

The concept of political racism is necessarily more specific than the more universal concepts of racism used in social science outside the sphere of politics. Thus, despite the common tendency to explain political racism using theories developed to account for other forms of racism, one turns most profitably to a range of political factors operating differently in time and/or location in order to arrive at the most thorough understanding of the expression of political racism. However, that does not deny the relevance of certain theories of more general racism in recognizing those circumstances that predispose to political racism. Some major theories in sociology and social psychology that might be applicable to political racism are described and their respective usefulness is assessed on the basis of available evidence about support for political racism in four west European countries.