The politics of migration

This chapter analyses the way immigration has been forged as a ‘social problem’ by many social actors – such as politicians, journalists, experts, academics, entrepreneurs – and the dialectical relationships between racialised immigrant minorities and state institutions. It investigates the politics of immigration in France from three perspectives. The first and most substantial section concerns evolutions of the state regulation of non-national population (foreigners and refugees). The chapter distinguishes different fields of governmental action to regulate that population, coming from European countries and former colonies: migration, asylum, internment and deportation, and citizenship policies. Secondly, the chapter considers recent changes to state integration policy in France, before thirdly examining briefly the political agency of immigrants and their children. In so doing, the chapter explores the challenges faced by immigrants and their children in France, demonstrating an increasing hardening of state attitudes towards immigration since the 1990s.