The State and the Foreign Worker Problem. A Case Study of the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria

This paper presents a description and critical analysis of the nature and scope of policies concerning the employment and treatment of foreign workers and their families that have been pursued by the national governments of the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Elements of a materialist theory of the state are drawn on to unravel the forces, interests, and conflicts which have shaped migration policies at different times in these countries. Emphasis is placed on the processes of transformation, whereby demands upon the state apparatus are translated into political and administrative action. Analysis reveals that a dominant trend throughout has been the pursuit of the economic goal of providing a low-cost flexible labour force. Confronted with human beings rather than economic units, concerns of integrating the migrant population and maintaining the nations' cultural integrity entered into play in the determination of policies; but essentially only as secondary goals. It is concluded that neither the overriding goal nor the ad hoc nature of migration policies will change in the near future.