Introduction

Abstract

This volume addresses the problem of how citizenship regimes and immigrant incorporation policies are being transformed in the aftermath of September 11. Our contributors, from Western Europe, Canada, and the United States have entered into a discussion in order to address this problem and further our understanding of the European situation and migration at large. We will raise three interrelated questions: First, how has migration evolved in Europe over the past decades? Here we will deal with basic issues in contemporary German and European migration at large, sketching the situation since 1945 and focusing on the new developments since the early 1980s. Second, how has the citizenship debate evolved and how has the problem of citizenship, in relation to immigration, been dealt with by the receiving states in Western Europe? Third, how have the migrants responded to their situation in various receiving countries? Most importantly, what sort of institutional structures have they elaborated and how do these structures relate to and interact with the host society?.