ABSTRACT
A body of literature has emerged in recent years, referred to throughout this book as the new political economy of immigration policy, which argues that the ‘punitive turn in the regulation of migration’ in Europe over the past 30 years should be understood in terms of the material and ideological functions these policy regimes have within post-Fordist economies. The chapter begins by giving an overview of the theoretical and conceptual forebearers of this body of literature; most notably, the Marxian literature on immigration, the political economy of punishment and what David Garland has called ‘punishment as class control and ideology’. It then moves on to a discussion of the limitations of the new political economy approach, which, by and large, track those of the literature from which it has descended. These include a lack of information regarding the empirical mechanisms linking immigration policy and immigrants’ exploitation, how this dynamic has changed over time and how countries vary in this dynamic. The chapter also argues that the emphasis on the functions of immigration policy within this literature, and the focus on the economy as the determining factor, means that questions around the policy-making process and the role of the state are under-theorised. Re-thinking the Political Economy of Immigration Policy can be seen as an attempt to respond to these limitations.
