Grenzen der Solidarität? flüchtlingsmigration und nationaler Wohlfahrtsstaat

The movement of refugees over recent years has given rise to a wide-ranging debate about whether immigration has the potential to destroy the national solidarity on which the welfare state allegedly rests. It is certainly debatable whether the modern welfare state was conceptualised on the basis of solidarity. If solidarity is defined in a way that differentiates between the action and system levels, however, this can be justified quite well and is corroborated by historical evidence. Nevertheless, the solidarity-based community that forms the basis of the welfare state can and could never simply be equated with the nation. Rather, its respective scope differed considerably from one branch of social security to the other and, moreover, changed over time. Finally, empirical research has come to disparate conclusions on the issue of whether migration threatens the solidarity-based roots of the welfare state. Against this background, the article advocates more precise impact analysis using historical case studies, stronger differentiation between the subsystems of the welfare state and a fresh view of the integrative potential of the welfare state.