Implementing Migration Policy Reform: An Outline for Germany

Migration policy in Germany today is better than its reputation would suggest. It has improved considerably over the last 20 years, though it has suffered setbacks and contradictions in the process. The improvements made have been driven less by a commitment to making migration policy “fit for the future” than by the need to respond to a changing reality. In addition, Germany’s integration into the European Union also positively affected domestic realities of integration, which has sown the terrain for a more effective migration policy concept. Nonetheless, instead of tackling problems directly, the migration policy debate in Germany continues to languish under self-critical navel-gazing. As a result, migration policy in Germany fails to seize present opportunities and – even worse – live up to Germany’s self-proclaimed standards as a modern, pluralistic society at the heart of Europe. A forward-looking migration policy that anticipates challenges rather than a backward-looking, ad hoc approach to policymaking is part and parcel of such standards. Indeed, to date, Germany has failed to embed migration policy within a fully coherent strategic framework