Immigrant Policies in Europe's Old Immigration Countries: Integration, Exclusion, Old and New Differentialism?

Immigration and the place of old and new immigrants in states and societies currently play a central role in the development of several European countries. In the UK, immigration played a key role in recent decisions about the future of the country within – or rather outside – Europe. In France, homebred terrorism is a theme that, when this conference takes place, may have had a major impact on the election of the new president. In Germany, the Chancellor has tied her political future to the handling of the refugee crisis. What do such current political turmoils tell us about longer-term orientations regarding the place of immigrants and ethnic minorities within European societies? To what extent are older debates about a return of assimilation, the death and covert survival of multiculturalism, the faults of 'integration' and the continuity of racism still helpful in explaining where different European countries are heading? Is it still adequate to assume a convergence of citizenship and integration policies? Or do we see a new divergence of immigrant policies in Europe? To what extent are developments determined by current political events, on the one hand, and by the longer-term development of neo-liberal economies and forms of governance, on the other?