Europe and International Migration

Since the end of the cold war, international migration has come to be seen as one of the most pressing issues facing Europe in the 1990s. This study takes as its starting-point the growing concern among policy-makers and the public throughout Western Europe over the issue of migration. The author places the current migration debate within a comparative perspective, in its global and historical context, outlining current broad trends in 'economic' migration, and providing some pointers to how these trends have affected Western Europe in recent decades.The analysis highlights elements of continuity and change in states' involvement in the migration process, a theme expanded in the context of the migration and migrant 'integration' policies pursued by both sending and receiving states. This provides a backdrop for a critical examination of current moves towards the harmonization of migration policy within the EC and wider groupings in Western Europe. The author raises questions about possible future responses to the migration challenge and asks, ultimately, what is the nature of that challenge?