IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joimai/v23y2022i4d10.1007_s12134-021-00929-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

States and Refugee Integration: a Comparative Analysis of France, Germany, and Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Scott Feinstein

    (Iowa State University)

  • Cristina Poleacovschi

    (Iowa State University)

  • Riley Drake

    (Iowa State University)

  • Leslie Ann Winters

    (Iowa State University)

Abstract

The Syrian civil war led to mass migration and Europe becoming a potential site of refuge. How have Syrians experienced refuge in Europe? Drawing on 58 interviews with Syrian refugees in Germany, France, and Switzerland, we find that refugees continue to experience exclusion in all integration domains including those found as markers and means, social connections, facilitators, and foundations of integration . While our cases demonstrate that Syrian refugees in Europe experience discrimination across all domains, not all conditions are equal. Using narrative analysis, differences were observed within three integration domains. Accessing language programs was more challenging in France, finding housing was more challenging in Germany, and F type residence permits limited refugees’ rights in Switzerland more than in other countries. Discrimination across domains is deepening the socio-cultural-economic divide between autochthonous communities and Syrian refugees, but not all domains are equally divisive across countries. The findings outline that where these states outsourced refugee services, refugees experienced increased barriers to integration.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott Feinstein & Cristina Poleacovschi & Riley Drake & Leslie Ann Winters, 2022. "States and Refugee Integration: a Comparative Analysis of France, Germany, and Switzerland," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 2167-2194, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:23:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s12134-021-00929-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-021-00929-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-021-00929-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12134-021-00929-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:taf:intjhp:v:13:y:2013:i:1:p:17-36 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Gwendolyn Sasse, 2005. "Securitization or Securing Rights? Exploring the Conceptual Foundations of Policies towards Minorities and Migrants in Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 673-693, November.
    3. Francesco Fasani & Tommaso Frattini & Luigi Minale, 2022. "(The Struggle for) Refugee integration into the labour market: evidence from Europe [Cashier or consultant? Entry labor market conditions, field of study, and career success]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 351-393.
    4. Paul W. Miller & Barry R. Chiswick, 1999. "Language skills and earnings among legalized aliens," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 12(1), pages 63-89.
    5. Hans Skifter Andersen & Lena Magnusson Turner & Susanne Søholt, 2013. "The special importance of housing policy for ethnic minorities: evidence from a comparison of four Nordic countries," International Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 20-44, March.
    6. Heike Hanhörster & Isabel Ramos Lobato, 2021. "Migrants’ Access to the Rental Housing Market in Germany: Housing Providers and Allocation Policies," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(2), pages 7-18.
    7. Ingo E. Isphording, 2015. "What drives the language proficiency of immigrants?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 177-177, August.
    8. Sebnem Koser Akcapar & Dogus Simsek, 2018. "The Politics of Syrian Refugees in Turkey: A Question of Inclusion and Exclusion through Citizenship," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 176-187.
    9. Blight, Karin Johansson & Ekblad, Solvig & Persson, Jan-Olov & Ekberg, Jan, 2006. "Mental health, employment and gender. Cross-sectional evidence in a sample of refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina living in two Swedish regions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(7), pages 1697-1709, April.
    10. Marc-André Luik & Henrik Emilsson & Pieter Bevelander, 2018. "The male immigrant–native employment gap in Sweden: migrant admission categories and human capital," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 363-398, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Julien Puech & François Yondre & Jane Freedman, 2023. "Typology of European Sports Programmes for Welcoming Migrants: Contrasting Political Philosophies," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1381-1411, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ayse Guveli & Lucinda Platt, 2023. "Religiosity of Migrants and Natives in Western Europe 2002–2018: Convergence and Divergence," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-27, December.
    2. Adnan Efendic & Dejan Kovac & Jacob N. Shapiro, 2023. "Exposure to Conflict, Migrations and Long-run Education and Income Inequality: Evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(8), pages 1003-1017, November.
    3. Antonio Di Paolo & Josep Lluís Raymond, 2012. "Language Knowledge and Earnings in Catalonia," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 89-118, May.
    4. Jacques Poot & Bridget Daldy & Matthew Roskruge, 2013. "Perception of workplace discrimination among immigrants and native born New Zealanders," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 16(1), pages 137-154.
    5. Alicia Adserà & Aditi Bhowmick, 2022. "English Proficiency, Gender and the Occupations of Childhood Immigrants in the US," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 321-344, December.
    6. Catherine P. Blanco & Mary Ann E. Tarusan, 2023. "The Sociolinguistic Situation of a Tigwahanon Speech Community," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 46(1), pages 317-330, August.
    7. Charles Gyan & Batholomew Chireh & Noelle Chuks-Eboka & Ata Senior Yeboah, 2023. "Reconsidering the Conceptualization of Resilience: The Experiences of Refugee and Immigrant Youth in Montreal," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1591-1615, August.
    8. Aldashev, Alisher & Gernandt, Johannes & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2009. "Language usage, participation, employment and earnings: Evidence for foreigners in West Germany with multiple sources of selection," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 330-341, June.
    9. Zenou, Yves & Boucher, Vincent & Tumen, Semih & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Wahba, Jackline, 2020. "Ethnic Mixing in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment and a Structural Model," CEPR Discussion Papers 15528, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Olivieri, Sergio & Ortega, Francesc & Rivadeneira, Ana & Carranza, Eliana, 2020. "Shoring up Economic Refugees: Venezuelan Migrants in the Ecuadorian Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 13502, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Müller, Tobias & Pannatier, Pia & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Labor market integration, local conditions and inequalities: Evidence from refugees in Switzerland," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    12. Henderson, Daniel J. & Polachek, Solomon W. & Wang, Le, 2011. "Heterogeneity in schooling rates of return," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1202-1214.
    13. Céline Piton, 2022. "The labour market performance of vulnerable groups: towards a better understanding of the main driving forces," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/352519, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    14. Ulrike Hamann & Gökçe Yurdakul, 2018. "The Transformative Forces of Migration: Refugees and the Re-Configuration of Migration Societies," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 110-114.
    15. Miranda, Alfonso & Zhu, Yu, 2013. "English deficiency and the native–immigrant wage gap," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 38-41.
    16. Aldashev, Alisher & Danzer, Alexander M., 2014. "Economic Returns to Speaking the Right Language(s)? Evidence from Kazakhstan's Shift in State Language and Language of Instruction," IZA Discussion Papers 8624, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Santiago Budría & Carlos Martinez de Ibarreta & Pablo Swedberg, 2017. "The impact of host language proficiency across the immigrants’ earning distribution in Spain," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-27, December.
    18. Eva Dziadula, 2018. "Timing of Naturalization Among US Immigrants," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 791-811, August.
    19. Budría, Santiago & Swedberg, Pablo, 2014. "The Impact of Multilingualism on Spanish Language Acquisition among Immigrants in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 8748, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:23:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s12134-021-00929-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.