Explaining Immigration Policy Reform in Germany and the UK: The Role of Issue Definition and Policy Legacies

In the early 2000s, the UK and German governments both attempted to make the case for more liberal labour migration policies. In both cases, political leaders drew on arguments about globalisation and the economic benefits of skilled labour. However, while the UK Labour government was successful in mobilising support for the reforms, the German government's attempt at reframing the issue was strongly resisted by the CDU/CSU opposition. We draw on theories of issue definition and issue linkages to explore both governments' framing strategies. We argue that in the case of the UK, the government successfully redefined the immigration issue while avoiding linkages with negative policy legacies. By contrast, German government attempts at redefinition were swiftly linked to such policy legacies. We use this case to explore the (under-theorised) relationship between strategic theories of issue definition and historical institutionalist theories of policy legacies and social learning. We argue that the capacity of elites to redefine policy issues for strategic purposes depends to a large extent on their ability to decouple new frames from negative policy legacies.