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TITLE OF PRODUCT:

Immigration Policies, state discourses on foreigners and the politics of identity in Switzerland.

NAME OF AUTHOR(S):

Yvonne Riano and Doris Wastl Walter.

PLACE AND DATE OG PUBBLICATION:

2006, Environment and planning.

TYPE OF PRODUCT:

Article, Web Article

LANGUAGE/S OF PRODUCT:

English.

DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS:

The role of state discourses in the construction of 'otherness' and in the production of inequality has become a major issue during a time of increasing changes in migration flows, of an increased presence of nationalist parties and of increasingly restrictive immigration policies in Europe. This paper examines historical shifts in the representation of foreigners within Swiss state discourses and the effects of these shifts on the integration of immigrants into Swiss society. As state discourses regarding foreigners significantly changed after the First World War, the emphasis of immigration policies shifted from a facilitating to a constraining approach. Überfremdung, the notion that excessive numbers of foreigners can threaten Swiss identity, emerged as one of the most influential discourses in Switzerland and provided the foundation for a quantitative and qualitative strategy of defence against the immigration, settlement, and naturalisation of foreigners. In recent years, however, an agreement on freedom of movement between Switzerland and the European Union has been struck, and immigration policies have once again adopted a facilitating stance. Since this applies only to citizens of the European Union, a stratified system of immigrant rights has been continued and perpetuated. At the same time, right-wing parties, which have recently risen to power, have successfully used Überfremdung propaganda to persuade Swiss populations to vote against the relaxation of conditions for the naturalisation of foreigners, thus ensuring that immigrants will be excluded
from access to citizenship rights over generations. The politics of immigration in Switzerland is above all a politics of national identity.

NAME OF COMPILER:

Ivan Ureta.

NAME OF INSTITUTION:

University of Lugano.

ROLE:

Researcher.



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