IMMIGRATION & INTEGRATION, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark

Sammanfattning: Migration began to emerge as a major policy issue in Europe during the 1980s. All member states of the European Union are affected by the flow of internal migration. The way of handling the integration problems, vary among the countries. This thesis aims to examine the contemporary patterns of immigration and integration policies in Sweden, Denmark and Netherlands. First, a brief description of immigration patterns in the selected countries and the historical backgrounds of immigration will be discussed: I find it necessary to overview the history to understand the policy development. Second, the national policies, differences and similarities will be discussed. Third the situation in urban areas, Malmö, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Amsterdam will be evaluated. And in conclusion, the synthesis of the process of immigration phenomenon will be included. A country-specific and comparative approach is desirable for immigration and integration policies because the differences between member states are large and the mutual spill-over effects of these policies weak. I would like to compare these three countries, Denmark, Sweden and Netherlands, because: Denmark and Sweden both can be seen as a part of Scandinavian model but the policy disparities are large. Netherlands has different immigrant characteristics, and all three countries are similar each other with being welfare states.