Refugee integration policy: the effects of UK policy-making on refugees in Scotland

Mulvey, G. (2015) Refugee integration policy: the effects of UK policy-making on refugees in Scotland. Journal of Social Policy, 44(2), pp. 357-375. (doi: 10.1017/S004727941500001X)

Abstract

While the concept of migrant integration is a contested one, national, sub-national and local governments over the past forty to fifty years have professed support for integration in various forms. However, practical measures have been rare, with broad race-relations policies from the 1960s being the primary means of ‘inclusion’. Under New Labour, refugees were identified as a migrant population with particular challenges and they have been the only migrant group subject to specific integration programmes. Nevertheless, policy and rhetoric about asylum seekers and refugees more generally have tended to operate against integration and have made it increasingly difficult for refugees to rebuild their lives. This paper examines refugee integration from the perspectives of the refugees themselves, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. It also looks at the governance of integration in Scotland and highlights Scottish distinctiveness vis-à-vis the UK. The article suggests that the consequences of broader UK Government policy around asylum and refugee issues negates any positive support in the form of refugee integration programmes and actively inhibits integration.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mulvey, Dr Gareth
• Authors: Mulvey, G.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Journal of Social Policy
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 0047-2794
• ISSN (Online): 1469-7823
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 Cambridge University Press
• First Published: First published in Journal of Social Policy 44(2):357-375
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.