Institutional contexts of the conditions of irregular migrants in Europe: a theoretical analysis

Abstract

This paper provides a theoretical framework for an institutional approach to understanding the conditions of irregular migrants in Europe. Our starting point is that, in determining policy responses to irregular migration, European liberal democracies are conflicted between the goals of immigration control and fundamental rights protection for all people. These goals conflict at the level of both values and interests. Despite the urgency and high political salience of the issue in many European countries, however, there has been little analysis of how European governments manage this goal conflict in their policies vis-à-vis irregular migrants, of the national differences in responses, and of the consequences for migrants. This paper argues and explains why the particular nature of this goal conflict and how it is managed in government policy responses can be expected to vary across European countries with different institutional contexts, with important consequences for the conditions of irregular migrants. We first theorise the links between institutions and the conditions of irregular migrants, and then use this framework to discuss why and how the ‘settings’ of key national institutions – legal institutions, political institutions, labour market institutions, and welfare state institutions – can ‘weigh’ in by favouring different sides of the goal conflict and thereby shape host country policies and outcomes for irregular migrants.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Bridget Anderson for her critical discussion and comments on various drafts of this paper. For their helpful comments, we would also like to thank Stephanie Acker, Ove Bring, Adrienne Hértier, Erik Jones, Ilse van Liempt, Julia Mourão Permoser, Ettore Recchi, and the participants in panel discussions at IMISCOE 2023 in Warsaw, ECPR 2023 in Prague, and the PRIME 2023 consortium meeting in Florence.

About authors

Clare Fox-Ruhs is a Part-time Assistant Professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute.

Joakim Palme is a Professor at the Department of Government at Uppsala University.

Martin Ruhs is Professor of Migration Studies and Deputy Director of the Migration Policy Centre at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute.