Abstract:

The objective of this article is to study the social policy issue of immigration integration through the Netherlands and explain the change in immigration policies over time. The Netherlands integration policies have been evaluated in the framework of secondary resources and Netherlands integration reports in structural and socio-cultural dimensions since the 1970s. In the 1970s, the Dutch state, which did not realize the durability of migrants, adopted a policy aimed at ensuring that their native, religious and cultural belongings were preserved. The ethnic minority policy, which was followed in the 1980s and defined as “chocculture”, has a group-oriented approach to immigrant integration; it has assessed the subject under social policy. In the 1990s, this approach was abandoned due to the economic burden it brought to the state. The individual participation in social life and institutions in the socio-economic field is expected from migrants. The migration integration has begun a change from social policies to employment policies. In the 2000s, a security axis perspective was adopted in the immigration policy. Islamic and Muslim immigrants, seen as a threat to the Dutch society and their values, are reflected in the expectation of cultural assimilation in integration. The article argues that the Netherlands’ immigration integration policies are changing over time from multiculturalism to assimilationist perspective, from group to individual-focused approach, from rights and opportunities to responsibility and task-based understanding, from prosperity state policies to employment policy perspective, and from liberal policies to neoliberal paternalist policies.

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