Immigrants on the Italian political agenda
Szerző: Balogh Róbert | Dátum: 2010-01-04 | Rovat: Tanulmányok
By studying the Italian case, my aim is to demonstrate the process by which strict anti-immigration measures gain precedence over more liberal policies in European democracies. First, I will point out that measures adopted to tackle immigration overlook the nature of the phenomenon revealed by network-theory. Second, by analysing two speeches delivered by Umberto Bossi, leader of an influential party advocating anti-immigration legislation I will place his argument into context. Finally, I will draw attention to the new dimensions opened by the latest developments at the end of 2007.
The issue of immigration has become one of the central issues of Italian politics since 1990. Not only the Martelli law, the so-called Turco-Napoletano or Bossi-Fini are part of the political dictionary today, but also expressions like proposta Fini-Landi or Bossi-Berlusconi that have aimed at criminalizing illegal immigration and thus were part of the public discourse for a significant period of time.
Italy as a country of New Immigration
Although, according to all statistics the number of immigrants exceeded the number of emigrants leaving Italy only by the middle of 1970s, the phenomenon of immigration is part of the Italian reality since the 1960s. (Chiarelli et al.1992: 44-49) Unlike in Germany, France or the Benelux countries the newcomers were not granted legal status on the basis of international agreements inspired by the need of heavy industry.(Colombo-Sciortino 2004) The patterns of immigration have been determined by the simultaneous effects of three distinct phenomena. Two of these are strongly connected to some neglected characteristics of the Italian labour market. A tanulmány teljes szöveggel ide kattintva érhető el.