Based on the dual premise that nations need to learn from how immigration issues are handled in other modern democracies, and that adaptation to a new era of refugee and emigration movements is critical to a stable world, Marilyn Hoskin systematically compares the immigration policies of the United States, Britain, Germany, and France as prime examples of the challenges faced in the twenty-first century. Because immigration is a complex phenomenon, Understanding Immigration provides students with a multidisciplinary framework based on the thesis that a nation's geography, history, economy, and political system define its immigration policy. In the process, it is possible to weigh the influence of such factors as isolation, colonialism, labor imbalances, and tolerance of fringe parties and groups in determining how governments ultimately respond to both routine immigration requests and the more dramatic surges witnessed in both Europe and the United States since 2013.

This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to Knowledge Unlatched-an initiative that provides libraries and institutions with a centralized platform to support OA collections and from leading publishing houses and OA initiatives. Learn more at the Knowledge Unlatched website at: https://www.knowledgeunlatched.org/, and access the book online at the SUNY Open Access Repository at http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12648/7132 .

Marilyn Hoskin is Professor Emerita of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire and the author of New Immigrants and Democratic Society: Minority Integration in Western Democracies.

List of Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments

1. Immigration as a Never-ending Saga

2. The United States: Immigration Model or Nation of Continuous Conflict?

3. Great Britain: Reluctant Parent to the Former Empire

4. Germany: Denial, Acceptance, Recruitment of Immigrants

5. France: Haven or Hell for Foreigners?

6. Comparing Immigration Lessons across Nations

References
Index