Transnational Standard and National Standard in Immigration Policy

A Case Study of “Sans-papiers”

Abstract

After 1990s, comparative studies of immigration policy have been extensively carried out in Europe and North America. Those studies single out two tendencies in developped countries' immigration policies. There is first a phenomenon of convergence, which suggests a growing homogeneity of immigration policies. This is what I call a “transnational standard”, based on ‘universalistic’ values and norms. Then, we can observe a great variety of local difference, which suggests that each country keeps its own proper character. I define this as a “national standard”. Until now, scholars who have argued for the comparative studies of immigrarion policies have tended to adopt a one-sided approach. However, we should combine both standards so as to fully understand the process of immigration policy-making. This is a complex process that we will try to clarify with the case of French immigration policy toward the “sanspapiers”.