Immigrant integration regimes in Europe: Incorporating the Western Balkan countries

Abstract

This article discusses immigrant integration policies in Europe. We analyzed data from the 2015 Migration Integration Policy Index to identify similar immigrant integration regimes in Europe according to policy priorities related to immigrants’ socioeconomic rights. The results of a latent class analysis demonstrated that there are two immigrant integration policy regimes among the EU 28, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Serbia, with variation between the old EU member states since 1995 (without Greece) and Estonia versus the new EU member states since 2004 (without Estonia), Greece, and the Western Balkan countries. Based on our classification, we conclude that there is a trend of convergence in integration policy regimes in Europe, in which the effects of spatial/geographical and temporal dimensions are manifested.

Keywords

• immigration
• integration policy
• migrant integration policy index
• latent class analysis
• europe