ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a historical overview of the development of Dutch policy responses to the different categories of immigrants from the 1950s onward. It develops a theoretical model that may be of wider use in explaining the intricacies of incorporation policy. From the 1950s on, four periods of distinctly different policy responses are identifiable. The first, corresponding roughly to the decade itself was a very peculiar period from a migration perspective. The second period began in 1961, the first year with an immigration surplus. From that year onwards the number of people settling annually in the Netherlands has always been higher than the number of people leaving the country. The early 1990s were a period of intense public debate on immigration related matters and a new policy approach can be said to have started in 1994. This was the year in which the government published its policy document Contourennota integratiebeleid etnische minderheden that was meant to replace the 1983 Minderhedennota.
