Contenu du sommaire : L'immigration

The OECD and International Migration. This article reviews the history of OEEC and OECD involvement in international migration since 1948. It describes change in migration patterns for this timeframe, OECD understanding of said change and the influence it attempted to exert on member country migration policies. This influence is analyzed in light of developments which proved very non-linear. A succinct overview of migration in the 1960's and 1970's points up the nature and origins of migration trends in this decade. Overlap between European and North American models is examined. The author argues for a coordinated response to migration manifest in OECD member countries despite differences of type and nature, and closes on a number of considerations applicable to comparative statistics.

Language Teaching in Host Countries. The issue of second-generation immigrants has become very topical in European educational circles in recent years. Educational institutions in host countries have taken steps to promote language teaching due to changes in economic, social and ethnic profile of immigration to Europe. This article surveys the different types of cultural acclimatization classes operating in Europe and analyzes the means and objectives of teaching for migrants mother tongue and host country language based on research by the Council of Europe and other international bodies. It concludes by underscoring the need for special training to enable teachers to take greater account of second generation immigrant needs.

Alien Census-Taking and Statistical Methods in Western Europe. With the exception of the UK, which ignores ‘alien' as a statistical criterion, there are almost 12 500 000 aliens legally resident in Western Europe. Statistical analysis also reveals that (a) aliens constitute a non-negligible subpopulation in both host and source countries, and (b) individual nationalities are concentrated in different host countries. Detailed analysis requires a clear definition of the alien categories included and excluded for statistical purposes as well as the statistical techniques applied. Another serious issue is that the term ‘alien' is becoming unworkable and will have to be re-defined or replaced.

Borderline Survival, Social Alienation and Upward Mobility : The Second Generation in Western Europe. Immigration has given rise to an estimated 7 000 000 youths aged 0-20 years in the main host countries. Over 50 % were born in host countries. One positive effect has been the rejuvenation of the ageing European population. Furthermore, they replenish existing manpower reserves domestically, thus having direct impact on the job market. However, the educational System and job training schemes are ill-suited to preparing them for the roles they will be expected to play in society. Overly stringent screening in schools and job training centers could resuit in a downward spiral of social alienation for significant numbers of second generation youth. Is there a paradoxical situation in which a substantial number of youths will find themselves cornered in dead-end situations on the eve of the Single European Market ?

Agglomeration Contracts. The French Government has undertaken a number of measures designed to optimize the integration of alien permanent residents, among which, the Social Action Fund (‘FAS') for immigrants and their families is pre-eminent. Nonetheless, the ‘agglomeration contracts' between national and local government encourage the latter to undertake broad, complete integration programs, thus constituting a quantitative improvement towards social integration.

Ethnic Community Involvement in the Political Life of Quebec. In application of the Couture-Cullen Agreement, Quebec will determine its own immigration policy and receive 29 000 persons of widely divergent backgrounds in 1989. Immigrants constitute 16% population and 90% live in the Montreal metropolitan area. Ethnic communities participate in community affairs through some 50 ethnic or cross-cultural associations and in advisory bodies such as the Immigration and Ethnic Communities Council. Ethnie community members with Canadian citizenship vote in elections. Although poorly represented in Quebec institutions, ethnic communities are concentrating on the civil service to obtain employment quotas that reflect their population size. Quebec is a multi-ethnic society of non-stop that has to rely on ethnic communities from every horizon for her future.

Legalization of Irregular Status Populations in Industrial Democracies : a Comparative Balance Sheet. The United States, Spain and Italy recently joined France in offering legal status to qualified illegal residents. Legalization programs are components of broader efforts to reform immigration policies which seek above ail to reduce illegal immigration to industrial democracies. The US legalization policy which is the major focus of the article, actually involved several distinct programs, the most important of which were one open to ail aliens who lived in the US since 1982 and one for agricultural workers. The US programs differed in significant ways from those in Europe. In particular, the major US program did not include a provision for immediate, derived legalization for family members who did not qualify for legalization. The five year gap between the date of eligibility for legalization, January 1, 1982 and the start of the program, May 4, 1987, also was unusual. Results of the Spanish, Italian and US programs fell short of official expectations. Illegally resident populations are resistant to legalization, but the need for such programs in the future is likely to be recurrent.

A Review of Social Reintegration Aid in Source Countries. The French Government has developed a number of mechanisms to assist immigrants willing to resettle in their country of origin. The emigration bonus scheme and Accord Franco-Algerien attracted 50 000 and 94 000 persons respectively, but assistance never went beyond Financial incentives. To improve the quality of emigration, the Government instituted a new aid mechanism in 1984 that provides for job placement in the country of origin financed by the French Government and, where applicable, the unemployment insuran ce agency or employers. Originally intended for migrants laid-off, this scheme was extended in 1987 to cover ail migrants receiving unemployment benefits. This scheme enabled the repatriation of 66 900 immigrants. For optimum success, the French Government coordinates resettlement policy with source countries through bilateral treaties (Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Yugoslavia). Resettlement aid bases on North-South collaboration, although job re-training and ancillary budget sourcing both require further attention.

An Immigration Issue in France ? It is odd that immigration should be an issue of the 1980s since there has been very little of it for over 10 years. France has never wanted to consider herself as open to permanent settlement and the authorities have long kept up the illusion that immigrant labourers are temporary guests who will return abroad. The 1974 immigration ban changed migration patterns ; new arrivais were family members and not labourers. Government policy promoting reunification of immigrant families appeared as a standing refutation of any immigration ban or ‘go home bonus'. Then folio wed general misunderstanding of 1981 governmental change and of policy aimed at securing permanent status for illegal aliens and civic integration, ail leading to xenophobic rabble-rousing, which in fact reflects French fears of impending change in the next decade. Thus, immigrants both reveal and shoulder the profound crisis currently affecting French society.

Immigration, Racism and Politics. France has been importing manpower continually for over a century. Increasing intolerance seems more related to ethnic visibility rather than actual numbers and many difficulties in fact attest that integration is underway. Racism on biologic lines has shifted into the background : debate is now in terms of ethnic hierarchies and compatibility. Permanent settlements of foreign communities coincides with a crisis of national self-confidence, and of moral values, thereby weakening accommodation potential. Violent racism has yielded to the almost apathetic armehair racism of disaggregated society. National policy is urgently needed to accelerate immigrant integration through schools, to reconstruct national identity and to recompose a System of moral values.

The Nation as an Ethnie Community. A handful of basic principles and a specifie conception of the nation underlie recommendations of the ‘Commission de la Nationalité'. This conception has its origins in Renan and Fustel de Coulanges who saw the nation as the resuit of the common will to live together on the basis of knowledge and adoption of an inherited past. ‘German' thinking differs over the means of handling down this past : one view relies on voluntary acceptance and acquisition : the other on membership in an collective unconscious and biological or ethnic transmission. The ‘Commission' holds that the ethnie heritage of a nation is available to everyone through the school System and active participation in community affairs.