On impacts of comparative policy analysis. Immigration to Israel: What other countries can learn

Abstract

Israel is a country of immigrants. Between 1948 and 1997 more than three-quarters of its population entered the country from abroad. Particularly marked within this period was an increase of 20 per cent between 1989 and 1996 following the great wave of immigration from former USSR. Israel's current absorption problems are a stark example of what is increasingly to be faced, for instance, by countries in South East Asia, North America, and Europe as cross-border migration becomes easier or a matter of survival. Israel's experience with immigration waves during the last fifty years and its policies of immigration absorption, as well as the components of this policy agenda, should be relevant for other countries. This article argues that comparative policy studies based on individual national cases should be regarded as naturally occurring experiments from which broader cross-national generalizations can be made. Their importance lies in their scope and in their ability to provide useful information that has transnational impacts on policy problems and on policy solutions.