The Russian Radical Right Movement and Immigration Policy: Do They Just Make Noise or Have an Impact as Well?

This article examines how, if at all, the mobilisation of the Russian Movement Against Illegal Immigration has had an impact on changes in Russian policies. Little is known about the outcomes of radical right movements in general or the Russian radical right in particular. The Movement Against Illegal Immigration has arguably played a role in shaping negative public attitudes towards immigration. On the other hand, the Russian government has not adopted any clear nationalistic anti-immigration policy frame. We show that disruptive events of Movement Against Illegal Immigration's mobilisation have caused reactions in terms of the elite discourse on immigration and restrictive immigration legislation.     

A Desire for Isolation? Mass Public Attitudes in South Africa Toward Immigration Levels

In the last decade incidents of xenophobia in South Africa have been prevalent. Are such anti-immigration attitudes related to a desire for isolationism in the country and support for a withdrawal from world affairs? Using data from the 2013 round of the nationally representative South African Social Attitudes Survey (N = 2,739), this article was able to shed light on determinants of anti-immigration attitudes using multivariate techniques. Foreign policy attitudes and cultural patriotism were found to be salient determinants of attitudes toward preferred immigration level. Support for isolationism was a better predictor than economic position. The findings suggest that discouraging isolationism would reduce xenophobia in the country.     

A Framework for Immigration

Abstract

This paper presents a framework for immigration, regardless of country of origin or of destination. It identifies factors that precipitate emigration and those that affect immigration, providing a background for understanding the immigration experience.     

Immigration to Portugal

Abstract

A peripheral West European country with a medium-sized population, Portugal experienced since the late 1990s a radical change in its migration trends, with growing and constant immigration flows. Not only the number of legal immigrants duplicated, but also the profile of immigrants changed and diversified. As a result, Portugal's public policies were challenged, and new social questions emerged. In particular, both public and private bodies have to deal with an increasing segmentation of the composition of immigration and of the labor market employing immigrants. Portugal still has not opted clearly for a model of immigration, and adaptation to these changes promises not to be easy, especially because the Portuguese society is simultaneously facing tensions deriving from its own     

“Murderers,Rapists, and Bad Hombres”: Deconstructing the Immigration-Crime Myths

ABSTRACT

Immigration control is at the center of the political debate and it is an important component of the Trump administration agenda. Restrictive immigration policies have expanded under the current administration justified in rhetoric that portrays immigrants as criminals and threats to public safety. This article presents the different mythologies surrounding the immigration and crime link and critically appraise the empirical evidence investigating the relationship between immigration and crime. The review provides ample evidence contradicting the commonly held belief that immigration increases crime. At the macro-level, research shows that immigrant communities have no higher crime rates than non-immigrant communities and that sanctuary cities do not foster crime. At the micro-level, research shows that neither immigrants in general nor undocumented immigrants, in particular, engage in more criminal behavior than non-immigrants. In fact, evidence seems to suggest the opposite. Despite researchers largely agreeing that the portrait of immigrants as a threat is not founded in empirical reality, the consequences of the immigrant threat narrative and the policies they promote are all too real.     

Quiet Casualties: An Analysis of U Non-Immigrant Status of Undocumented Immigrant Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Although immigration policy is a key component of public administration scholarship in the United States, research into Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) for both documented and particularly undocumented immigrants has been tangential in focus. This exploratory study questions 1. the effect of immigration reform on U.S. undocumented immigrant women of IPV and

2. how changes in the number of undocumented immigrants affect IPV victimization rates and the regulations concerning U non-immigrant status.

A least-square trend line suggests that the 10,000 U visa applications permitted annually will not cover the undocumented female population of IPV let alone the victims qualified under the U non-immigrant status. Based on a review of the laws and policies regarding the U-Visa we provide several recommendations to reform immigration laws directed toward immigrant victims of IPV. This study adds to the growing, but still weak body of knowledge on abused immigrant female populations in the United States and how federal legislation toward immigration reform and policy will help these women become valuable contributors to our society.     

Local Fiscal Stress in California: Out of Local Control and Driving Toward Growth

Abstract

Many regions of the United States have experienced rapid growth in recent decades with California being the best example of this growth. The dangers of such growth have been evident since the 1970s and yet, neither the state nor local governments have been very successful in implementing growth control policies. Why it is that government has been unable to rein in the growth has been the focus of much research in recent decades. There are essentially two schools of thought with regard to this question. One is that pro‐growth forces—essentially landowners, business elites, and elected officials—actively promote growth because it provides them personally with benefits. The other view, advocated most by Paul Peterson back in the early 1980s, is that elected officials do support and adopt pro‐growth policies, but not by choice. Cities, Peterson argued, are constrained by the economic situation around them and they must do what they can to raise revenues and reduce, or hold steady, expenditures. This research examines a region of southern California that has experienced tremendous growth despite the fact that surveys of resident attitudes within the region indicates that in general, residents favor growth control. This research contributes to an understanding of the driving forces behind the pro‐growth policies of local governments by considering how fiscal constraints placed on local governments by the state may limit the policy options of local elected officials, as Peterson predicted. This study finds that there is evidence to indicate that the revenue‐raising options available to cities may be contributing to pro‐growth policies. And this could help explain why elected officials continue to support growth within their cities despite the fact that residents express negative views toward growth.     

On the Age Against the Poor

Abstract

This article focuses on Dominican migration to the United States (U.S.) after 1965. Dominicans left their homeland pressured by economic needs, the desire to improve their lives, and encouraged by a de facto immigration policy that facilitated their exodus. Once in the U.S., most Dominicans encounter an economy that increasingly demands skills and levels of schooling they do not possess. Rather than a prosperous life, in the new land, Dominicans face high unemployment levels and an alarming state of poverty. Paradoxically, while the needs of Dominicans continue to be unmet in the new society, the social policies and the conditions that push them out of their country remain in effect. On its part, the U.S. has responded by adopting a number of immigration laws to control the entrance of unwanted and unneeded job-seekers. As a result, the number of Dominicans coming to the U.S. has begun to decline as the number of Dominicans deported to the Dominican Republic has increased. In the end, poor Dominicans are pushed back and forth by both societies whose immigration policies mask their unwillingness to respond to the needs of the group. The article also discusses the impact on the Dominican community of 9/11 and the crashing of the AA flight 587, on November 12, 2001.     

Economic interest or security concerns? Which affected how individuals in five Asian countries—Indonesia,Japan, Malaysia,the Philippines,and South Korea—viewed China in 2013?

With rapid economic growth, China has become its neighbours’ largest trade partner in the twenty-first century. At the same time, the growth of China’s military and its assertiveness are raising concerns among its neighbours that China’s rise will pose a threat to them. In this context, will China’s neighbours—Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Korea—view China positively or negatively? By using statistical analysis, this paper aims to explore whether individuals are more affected by their economic position or national security concerns when they view China. The findings in this article suggest that individuals’ security concerns have stronger associations with their attitudes toward China than economic conditions. Specifically, individuals’ views on China’s military growth and territorial disputes had negative effects on their attitudes toward China. On the other hand, economic interests had weaker associations with individuals’ views of China than security concerns.     

Impact of the 1996 Welfare Reform and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Acts on Caribbean Immigrants

SUMMARY

This paper examines the impact of the 1996 Welfare Reform and Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Acts on Caribbean immigrants in the United States. Drawing from the conceptual framework posited by Dye's (1984) Elite Preference Modelof policy analysis, the author argues that the three laws have created enormous economic and psychological difficulties among families in the United States. Developing countries in the Caribbean region have been severely impacted by the law since they have had to accommodate returning citizens when they are deported under provisions of immigration policies. The question for consideration by this paper is how may the legal and human rights of deportees be balanced against the rights of the U.S. government to secure its borders and ensure the security of its citizens? The paper also addresses issues of immigration, and international relations particularly the north-south dialogue between powerful developed countries such as the United States and small developing states of the Caribbean.     

Understanding Immigration and Psychological Development

Abstract

Approximately one in five children in the U.S. are born to immigrant families in which at least one parent is foreign-born. Existing theoretical frameworks suggest that immigration experiences can increase acculturative stress and lead to developmental psycholopathology in immigrant children. These models, however, do not account for levels in the environment that trigger this stress and/or serve as forms of resilience. Drawing from Bronfenbrenner's multilevel, bioecological model of development, this paper presents a framework that charts environmental processes which generate or buffer acculturative stress and, therefore, mediate the impact of immigration on psychological well-being. Empirical research shows that Mexican immigrants, on the whole, fare better than U.S.-born groups in terms of mental health outcomes. These results are explained in the context of the presented theoretical model. Though further research is needed, preliminary evidence suggests that encouraging “enculturation,” as opposed to “acculturation,” has positive mental health repercussions for Mexican American children. Further research using the presented theoretical framework as well as policies and practices that incorporate and leverage the cultural strengths of Mexican immigrant children should be pursued.     

Public opinion,social cohesion,and the politics of immigration in South Korea

This article analyses public opinion in order to explore the politics of immigration in South Korea. It argues that there are divergent views about immigration and the obligations of the host society to accommodate migrants. Younger, better-educated citizens are representative of a majority that has a generally positive view of immigrants and immigration. A sizeable minority of older and less well-educated citizens, however, is warier of immigration and its effects on South Korean society. Men were more likely than women to have a positive view of immigration, but the differences along gender lines were small. The article also finds that attitudes towards immigration depend to a significant degree on how migrants are described. It thereby highlights the possibility that South Korea’s leaders could use immigration for political gain while also seeking to attract new migrants in order to resolve the country’s economic and demographic problems.     

Human Services Providers’ Perspectives on Refugee Resettlement in the United States before and after the 2016 Presidential Election

Abstract

The United States has historically accepted and resettled refugees by opening its doors to those fleeing violence, armed conflict, or persecution around the world. However, the degree of receptivity toward refugee resettlement has vacillated over time. This study examines the challenges and opportunities that Refugee Resettlement Agencies (RRAs) experienced prior to and after the 2016?U.S. Presidential election. The findings presented in this paper, based on focus groups with the RRA staff, revealed that there is a greater need for understanding the refugee resettlement process and how changing immigration policies impact state-federal funding.     

Patterns of Enterpreneurship: A Study of Gender Training Frameworks for Officers of the Indian Administrative Service

Abstract

The awareness of women as a category of development promoted the establishment of Women in Development (WID) organizations but these remain on the peripheries of mainstream development concerns. This research examines the entrepreneurial roles of Indian Administrative officers for gender aware planning and implementation of gender aware development planning. The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is a critical stakeholder in the innovation process for gender aware development planning. This article reviews the introductory training program of all IAS candidates to establish the institutional culture and organizational procedures describing the audience of the IAS organization. The institutional culture and procedures of the IAS perpetuate a gender bias for WID and not Gender and Development (GAD) programs. Bureaucratic advocates for this type of development planning hold conflicting roles within government agencies as system maintainers and policy advocates. This study reviews the content and implications of three different gender-training frameworks dominate in the field: gender analysis, gender-planning, and social relations. Comparing these frameworks provides insights into the positioning of IAS officers and departments as possible agents of innovation for gender aware planning and policy. The range of innovations vary from acquiring skills for job performance, or creating separate agencies and new institutions to assessment of entrenched attitudes and procedures reinforcing gender inequity within the agency. Implicit in each framework are different views about IAS officers as planners and administrators.     

Setting weights for aggregate indices: An application to the commitment to development index and human development index

Abstract

Aggregate indices like UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI) or the Centre for Global Development and Foreign Policy's Commitment to Development Index (CDI) are subject to multiple criticisms. This paper addresses concerns linked to the equal weights used in the HDI and the CDI and evaluates alternative weighting schemes. It relies on an opinion survey conducted electronically among researchers from 60 countries to assess whether or not professional judgment affects the use of equal weights. Results of the opinion survey point to a surprising result for the HDI: despite widespread criticism of equal weights, a simple scheme based on equal weights is not only convenient but also consistent with the views of experts. For some components of the CDI, however, weights derived from the survey do differ from equal weights. Nevertheless, the weights emerging from the survey are not sufficiently different from equal weights to significantly alter country rankings.     

From Emigrant to Immigrant Society

Abstract

As the host of complex factors that give rise to forced and voluntary migration change over time, the history of migration in any one country also changes. This paper is concerned with the processes of transition and change in migration patterns in the Republic of Ireland over the past fifteen years, as Ireland has moved from being a country of net emigration to one of net immigration. More specifically this paper considers the manner in which, as immigration acquires a negative label through reactive state policies enabled legislative provisions both migrant and local population groups focus on resource-based tensions. As a result, a complex set of barriers emerges to inhibit the formation (by migrants) of extensive social networks within Irish society and ultimately to restrict general social interaction and integration. This paper considers the manner in which, migrant interaction with the host society becomes more limited and of less relevance to the individual when social interaction takes place in the context of a heightened sense of difference and of barriers between local and migrant groups. As a consequence, the barriers and boundaries between the immigrant and the local population are further reinforced.     

CONFIGURING A CONSTITUTIONAL STATE: OFFICIALS AND ASSEMBLYMEN AT THE 1909 SICHUAN PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY MEETING

Abstract

This article examines two potential configurations of the constitutional state at the time of Constitutional Reform. One was from Sichuan Governor-General Zhao Erxun, who claimed that “all political power belongs to the state.” The other was from the Sichuan assemblymen, who were inarticulate at first, but, when the meeting closed one and a half months later, firmly announced that “there would be no taxation without supervision.” Both views emerged during the 1909 Provincial Assembly meeting in Sichuan; via rounds of debates over forty-two bills, the differences between them gained sharp articulation as a clash of divergent political principles. There emerged not only a reaction of elite bitterness toward high-handed state policies but also a repertoire of political skills now in the practiced hands of an expanding circle of political leaders. The Sichuan Provincial Assembly meeting was a staging area for the revolutionary activism of the Railway Protection Movement two years later as well as for the development of both a new Chinese citizenship and a new relationship between the citizenry and the state.     

THE FUTURE OF POLICE AUTHORITIES: MEMBERS VIEWS

Part of the argument about police accountability concerns the role of police authorities, their membership and powers. The Conservative, Alliance and Labour Parties have developed policies which are broadly retentionist – leave things as they are – reformist – change the membership – and radical – empower police authorities to determine policy. The evidence suggests that police authority members' views, though broadly consistent with their party policies nationally, differ in some important respects. Conservatives are increasingly unhappy about the statutory co-option of magistrates. Alliance members appear not to favour an increase in the proportion of nonelected members. And many Labour councillors entertain doubts about the control model.     

Immigration to Ghana

Abstract

The globalization of international labor migration is manifest in all countries now engaging in migration systems that are growing in size and complexity and producing an increasing diversity of flows. Furthermore, many of the processes that create and drive these systems operate on a worldwide basis, the consequence of economic globalization, capital mobility and widespread realization by governments that human resources can be traded for profit like any other resource.

This paper looks at Ghana's immigration policy in the light of its economic situation. It characterizes Ghana's immigration policy as geared towards using immigration to attract critical foreign investment, transfer of technology and human resource capital/skills for socio-economic development. Running concurrently is the policy to prevent illegal immigration, transnational crime, economic exploitation, social corruption and human trafficking.

The paper concludes that when the economic situation of Ghana was buoyant in the 1960s it attracted many immigrants especially from neighboring West African countries, however when the country's economy saw a down turn, immigrants were used as a convenient scapegoat and many were expelled. The irony though is that while the current poor economic situation of Ghana has made Ghanaians to immigrate to other countries, the political stability of the country does attract other West Africans and non-Africans and it is affording the country the opportunity to streamline its immigration and citizenship laws.     

Corruption and Popular Support for Democracy and Government in Transitional Contexts: The Case of Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Many studies have argued that corruption undermines perceived democratic legitimacy, trust in state institutions, and government support. However, few prior studies have included transitional or hybrid regimes in their analyses, or simultaneously examined multiple aspects of this relationship. Using focus groups and a nationally representative survey conducted throughout a tumultuous transitional period in Kyrgyzstan, we find evidence for our hypotheses that citizens with greater corruption concerns will be more pro-democratic when evaluating democracy or its institutional components in the abstract; yet, they distrust existing government institutions. Even in a hybrid regime lacking democratic experience, citizens exhibit attributes of distrusting democrats.