Rather than politics, it is economy that dictates the rules of immigration. The confirmation comes from the latest data on the number of illegal Mexicans in the US, gathered by the authoritative Pew Hispanic Center. According to figures, in 2011, the total number of unauthorized Mexican immigrants dropped to 6 million compared with 7 million in 2007. This means not only that the annual arrivals in the U.S. decreased, but also that the number of those that decided to go back to their home country, even though established in the U.S. for a long time, increased. This is absolutely new, given that in the last fifty years the net migration balance Mexico-U.S. had known only a growth. Basically, the horde of illegal immigrants that for decades have overcome barriers and prohibitions of any type, providing the wealthy U.S. economy with manpower, came suddenly to a halt. This is an epoch-making phenomenon that, contrary to what many others claim, does not depend on political factors. Restrictive laws and controls at the frontier with walls and electric cables have always existed, but never brought to the expected outcome. What are then the real causes behind such a revolutionary "revirement"? The first is [...]

To make clear the disputed issue on dual citizenship, recently on the Dutch government agenda, West interviewed  Rainer Baubock, professor in social and political theory at the European University Institute in Florence and co-director of the EUDO CITIZENSHIP observatory. 1) The Dutch government has recently reopened the old debate on dual nationality proposing a draft law that obliges both immigrants living in the Netherlands and Dutch people living abroad to choose whether to keep their first nationality or not. What do you think about that? RB: The Netherlands is a rather unique case. Generally, we observe a strong trend towards greater toleration of dual citizenship in Europe and, to a lesser extent, also in other parts of the world (least so in Asia, but very strong in both North and South America). There are many reasons that explain this trend. Until the 1960s international lawyers regarded dual citizenship generally as an “evil” of the same kind as statelessness. The situation changed not so much because of multicultural toleration, but rather because of stronger norms against gender discrimination, a long period of peace in international relations and changing perceptions of state interests in migration. A ban on gender discrimination in nationality [...]

Two months before France's presidential election, Front National continues to rise in the polls, registering its best historical result. It is an unexpected success, especially if we consider that it was only one year ago that Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder and undisputed leader of the party, retired from political life allowing his daughter Marine to take his place at the head of the extreme right-wing movement. This is what we discuss with Jean Yves Camus, research associate at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) in Paris. Camus also collaborates with “Le Monde Diplomatique”, “Charlie Hebdo”, “Proche Orient”, “Rue89” and is one of the best political analysts of what, thanks to a extraordinarily well-chosen expression, is broadly defined as “populisme alpin”. 1) According to a recent survey carried out by TNS Sofres, 31% of the French support the ideas of Front National, against 22% registered one year ago. What reasons lie behind this change? This is certainly the result of the change at the head of the FN; Marine Le Pen is more in tune with the working and lower middle-class than her father is, simply because she is looking like the average French [...]

Twelve months after Front National established its leadership and four months before next presidential election, Marine Le Pen may represent a real shift in the French political landscape. Not only for the wide and strong citizens' approval it obtained, confirmed by a recent TNS Sofres survey, but also because, within a year, Le Pen has been able to give a new aspect to the extreme right-wing party founded by her father in 1972. Actually, apart from the surname, it is difficult to find something in common between her and her predecessor. The reasons of such a radical change are quite simple. The charming leader of Front National knows that, in order to relaunch her party, it is necessary to re-depict its image and, in certain respects, she did it. Marine Le Pen is a divorced career woman; she is statist and anti-Nazi, she supports the anti-globalisation movement and defends gays and Jews. These are the most important ingredients of the magic recipe through which she transformed, in a so short period of time, an old extreme right-wing party into a post-modern political movement, which is part of the newborn family of European neo-populism. Among the most remarkable members of such [...]

Go for ethnic statistics. For the first time in the whole France history, a report presented today in Paris by the National Observatory gives an extremely detailed picture of the French banlieues. A news available thanks to all data given by an unedited survey on sensible urban areas started in 2010, on the basis of foreigner residents' origins and ethnicity in the in Hexagon, by National Demographic Institute. Three are the main aspects that come out of this report. The first and the most important one that this paper highlights is what many have pretended not to see: also in the buttered suburbs, in fact, the social elevator does work. Actually, among second-generation residents, the percentage of working in management position's access increased, compared to the first generation's one (from 4,4% to 5,3%). On the other side, the working in hand positions decreased (from 52,2% to 40%). A mobility process that goes together with an higher number of girls that, compared to their mothers, become steady part of the labor market. Another important high percentage (97%) of immigrants' children has the French citizenship. A fundamental indicator to clarify, once and for all, that, unlike what is believed, the promoters of the 2005 [...]

Among the many revolutions that have taken place in 2011, one was almost ignored: for the first time in the last sixty years the illegal migration flow towards the U.S. of Mexicans came to a halt. We discuss it with Douglas Massey, Professor of Sociology at the Priceton University and unanimously recognized as one of the world's leading experts on immigration. According to your last survey, between 2010 and the first months of 2011, the migratory net balance between Mexico and USA fell to zero for the first time in 60 years. It is by no mean an exaggeration then, to think that USA is not a centre of attraction for neighbour Mexicans anymore. Might we register a turnaround that will last for many years? It is just illegal migration that has fallen to zero, partially because new opportunities have opened up in the legal system.  Guestworker entries from Mexico are running at 300,000 per year and legal immigration is running between 150,000 and 200,000 per year.  So it’s not that migration has stopped altogether.  But I do think the huge boom in migration we saw from 1970-2000 is probably over.  Mexican fertility rates are declining and the relative size of cohorts [...]

North African uprisings of 2011 and the consequent swelling of migration flows has put not only Italy but entire Europe in a difficult position. According to many member states of the EU the reasons of such a situation are due mainly to lacks of the Schengen’s agreements. But is that true? Is it that essential to amend the free circulation of people, considering that it became a European fundamental right? This is the core issue of our discussion with Mr. Paolo Bargiacchi, lecturer of International law from the University Kore of Enna. As a matter of the fact, professor Bargiacchi is following closely the current debate about the so-called Lampedusa-emergency. 1) The European Council of 23 and 24 June was inconclusive. The Commission was required to submit within September a document defining in detail the possible temporary and exceptional reintroduction of border checks in the Schengen area. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a proposal? This measure implies a few advantages and many risks. It seems, especially, out of place if we consider the main objective pursued by the “Schengen system” and the case of Lampedusa. The arrival of immigrants from North Africa is in part a humanitarian problem that [...]

As for the tragedy that struck Norway, there is one aspect in particular we should focus on. Maybe because of an excess of cultural snobbery, simple things have been undervalued. Anders Behring Breivik, the 32-year-old accused of the terrible killing spree, is a man suffering from mental disorders with right-wing views, not the contrary. He suffers from a “mental disease that leads him to Grandiose delusions. He thinks he is the saviour of the world”. Therefore, the most important thing to notice is not the relation between ideology and action, but the contrary. In his mind, Breivik finds a perfect justification for what he does: “the world is awful, I will save it”. Whatever is at the basis of such a terrible idea (Catholicism, Marxism, Nazism, etc.) does not matter. As emerges from a recent interview with the well-known psychiatrist Vittorino Andreoli, this is the reason why, in a place considered as the paradise of Northern Europe, 76 people have been killed. Such a theory is also confirmed by Breivik’s behaviour. Unlike his predecessors (e.g. the two teenagers who murdered a dozen fellow students and a teacher in the massacre at Columbine high school, in the US), he did not [...]

Today the European Council has to discuss two crucial questions concerning immigration: the right of asylum and the role of Frontex. There exists, however, the concrete risk of obtaining no result. These themes are extremely important. As for asylum, the main problem is related to burden sharing. In other words, there are states that care too much and states that care too little. We just briefly remind that in 2010 France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and United Kingdom received 70% of total asylum requests in Europe. It is quite obvious that the only solution to the problem is to harmonize national laws on this subject. So far, the few efforts made in that direction did not produce any significant result. The case of EASO, the European Asylum Support Office, is emblematic of the situation. The office was created in May 2010 but it started to function only on 19th April 2011. We only know that its headquarters are in Malta, that its web site is under construction and that, in addition to the voluntary financial contributions of single states, it will have a budget of a few million euro. In brief, limited resources for an important objective, that of supporting, coordinating and [...]

Andrea Mancia is a journalist and he is the vice-director of the newspaper "Liberal". He invented the blog aggregator Tocqueville.it and now leads the newspaper notapolitica.it. His main interests are American politics and society. Indeed, he founded in 2004 a personal blog called rightnation.it dealing with American current affairs. We have decided to close with him our journey into the controversial world of baby boom generation. Mr. Nachreiner lives in Buffalo and he is the first child of the American baby boom. Do you think he has the same vices and virtues of his European peers? In other words, are there any differences between the American baby boomers and those born in the Old Continent? Differences exist and are quite strong. The biggest one concerns the economic structure and the social protection system adopted in the US and in Europe. The American society, despite all its problems, is more dynamic than the European one. Indeed, it has been able to find, during the years, the right solutions to adapt to the emerging needs of history, without causing much trouble. In the US, people do not see “mobility” and “short-term employment” as a sort of disgrace, but rather as a chance to improve their [...]