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Social Policy and Migration Policy in the Long Nineteenth Century

Kalm, Sara LU orcid and Lindvall, Johannes LU orcid (2016) In STANCE Working Paper Series 2016(7).
Abstract
The relationship between international migration and the welfare state is a hotly contested topic: some scholars argue that migration will, in the long run, erode support for the welfare state; others argue that the welfare state has inherent qualities that insulate it from such erosion. We place this debate in historical perspective by exploring the period when the latent tension between cross-border mobility and locally or nationally defined social rights first emerged. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between national social policy ambitions and migration controls in two periods: 1830–1890 (an era of pre-welfare-state social policy mainly structured around locally based poor relief) and 1890–1914 (the period when the... (More)
The relationship between international migration and the welfare state is a hotly contested topic: some scholars argue that migration will, in the long run, erode support for the welfare state; others argue that the welfare state has inherent qualities that insulate it from such erosion. We place this debate in historical perspective by exploring the period when the latent tension between cross-border mobility and locally or nationally defined social rights first emerged. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between national social policy ambitions and migration controls in two periods: 1830–1890 (an era of pre-welfare-state social policy mainly structured around locally based poor relief) and 1890–1914 (the period when the social-insurance welfare state began spread, starting in Germany in the previous decade). The puzzle that motivates our paper is that barriers to movement were abolished in Europe precisely when the state began to define itself as a nation state and increased its capacity to take on greater social responsibilities for its citizens. We investigate whether higher social-welfare efforts resulted in the introduction or strengthening of internal exclusions (reduced rights for immigrants). We also investigate the relationship between social-welfare effort and external exclusions (barriers to entry). We rely on a migration-policy data set that was developed by Peters (2015), which we have expanded to include 18 countries in Europe and the Americas for which data on poor relief (the early part of the period) and the introduction of social insurances (the later part of the period) are available; we have also complemented Peters’s data with additional information about specific migration-policy instruments. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
migration, welfare state, cross-border mobility, social rights, social policy, migration control, 1830-1890, poor relief, 1890-1914, social-welfare efforts, internal exclusions, external exclusions, migration policy data set, social insurance, Europe, Americas
in
STANCE Working Paper Series
volume
2016
issue
7
pages
33 pages
publisher
Department of Political Science, Lund University
project
State-Making and the Origins of Global Order in the Long Nineteenth Century and Beyond
Lund Human Rights Research Hub
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d4140959-54c4-4ef2-a0a7-ffa1143c98ec
date added to LUP
2016-06-07 16:25:08
date last changed
2019-03-08 03:14:18
@misc{d4140959-54c4-4ef2-a0a7-ffa1143c98ec,
  abstract     = {{The relationship between international migration and the welfare state is a hotly contested topic: some scholars argue that migration will, in the long run, erode support for the welfare state; others argue that the welfare state has inherent qualities that insulate it from such erosion. We place this debate in historical perspective by exploring the period when the latent tension between cross-border mobility and locally or nationally defined social rights first emerged. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between national social policy ambitions and migration controls in two periods: 1830–1890 (an era of pre-welfare-state social policy mainly structured around locally based poor relief) and 1890–1914 (the period when the social-insurance welfare state began spread, starting in Germany in the previous decade). The puzzle that motivates our paper is that barriers to movement were abolished in Europe precisely when the state began to define itself as a nation state and increased its capacity to take on greater social responsibilities for its citizens. We investigate whether higher social-welfare efforts resulted in the introduction or strengthening of internal exclusions (reduced rights for immigrants). We also investigate the relationship between social-welfare effort and external exclusions (barriers to entry). We rely on a migration-policy data set that was developed by Peters (2015), which we have expanded to include 18 countries in Europe and the Americas for which data on poor relief (the early part of the period) and the introduction of social insurances (the later part of the period) are available; we have also complemented Peters’s data with additional information about specific migration-policy instruments.}},
  author       = {{Kalm, Sara and Lindvall, Johannes}},
  keywords     = {{migration; welfare state; cross-border mobility; social rights; social policy; migration control; 1830-1890; poor relief; 1890-1914; social-welfare efforts; internal exclusions; external exclusions; migration policy data set; social insurance; Europe; Americas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{7}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Political Science, Lund University}},
  series       = {{STANCE Working Paper Series}},
  title        = {{Social Policy and Migration Policy in the Long Nineteenth Century}},
  volume       = {{2016}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}