posted on 2015-04-08, 09:16authored byLaura Morales, J-B. Pilet, D. Ruedin
The existence of a gap between public preferences for more restrictive immigration policies and relatively expansive immigration policy in Western democracies has received considerable attention. Sometimes, this gap has been explained by the nature of immigration policies: dominated by elites while the public remained uninterested. In many countries, however, immigration has gained considerable salience among the public. There are competing expectations and accounts relating to whether policy-makers ignore or follow public demands on immigration. In this article we examine the potential drivers of variations in the opinion–policy gap on immigration in seven countries (1995–2010). We analyse the effect of the politicisation of immigration on this opinion–policy gap. The strength of anti-immigrant parties is unrelated to the opinion–policy gap on immigration. The salience of the issue and the intensity of the public debate are associated with the opinion–policy gap, and the combination of negative attitudes with extensive media coverage seems particularly conducive to policy congruence.
History
Citation
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2015
Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE/Department of Politics and International Relations
Version
AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Published in
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Publisher
Taylor & Francis (Routledge) for Centre for European Migration and Ethnic Studies (CEMES) and Sussex Centre for Migration Research at the University of Sussex