British immigration policy, depoliticisation and Brexit

Donmez, Pinar E.; Sutton, Alex

Abstract

This paper seeks to problematise the historical significance of the EU for British governing strategy with reference to immigration policy and the concept of depoliticisation. Situating British governing strategy in terms of the crisis-prone nature of capitalist society, this paper argues that British immigration policy has been depoliticised through, initially, the invocation of globalisation and, more recently, the EU. Through this strategy, the British state has been able to repeatedly claim that immigration policy is largely out of its hands, as they have no control over workers wishing to enter Britain looking for work. This paper makes three claims: firstly, immigration policy has been used as a means by both Conservative and Labour governments to manage inflation and labour; secondly, successive governments have sought to depoliticise immigration policy through reference to external forces; thirdly, this strategy of depoliticisation ultimately failed, politicising Britain’s relationship with the EU and creating conditions for Britain’s exit from the EU.

Citation

Donmez, P. E., & Sutton, A. (2020). British immigration policy, depoliticisation and Brexit. Comparative European Politics, 18, 659 - 688. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-020-00204-7

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 17, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Feb 4, 2020
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jan 21, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 5, 2021
• Journal: Comparative European Politics
• Print ISSN: 1472-4790
• Electronic ISSN: 1740-388X
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Pages: 659 - 688
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-020-00204-7
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/4254174
• Additional Information: Politics and International Relations