Introduction

Abstract

The Introduction locates the topics within a major frame, which interrogates to what extent the pre-eminence of immigration as an issue of political debate is a response to an increase of international migration. Based on historical evidence, it is argued that throughout the twentieth century international immigration has increased from 1.94 in 1917 to 2.91 in the year 2000, which means about 200 million people. Although it is not a major demographic change, it is suggested that politization of migration has to be understood as part of long-term political shift in which the denationalization of the economies has produced a nationalization of politics. Such nationalization of politics has been a raw material of far-right politics, and, in such a context, immigration is portrayed as a threat. The Introduction ends with a section that describes how the book is organized.