Announcements
New Publication
Posted 7April March 2024
Members of the SOM project continue to publish on the politicization of immigration. Here is our latest publication:
Van der Brug, Wouter, and Joost Berkhout. 2024. ‘Patterns of Politicization Following Triggering Events: The Indirect Effect of Issue-Owning Challengers’. Frontiers in Political Science 6 (April). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2024.1314217.
Data from SOM in Portugal Now Available
Posted 13 January 2021
The data from the SOM extension in Portugal are now freely available on Zenodo. For a description of the data, refer to the article in JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13048. João Carvalho and Mariana Carmo Duarte examine the politicization of immigration and immigrant integration in Portugal between 1995 and 2014, and explore reasons for the low levels of politicization.
Preview of the NCCR Update and Extension
Posted 16 December 2020
We are happy to share a preview of the update of the SOM data to 2018 carried out by the NCCR on the move. There are two extensions included here: a historical extension to the 1970s in Switzerland, and an update to the end of 2018 for all countries. In the preview, the update is complete for Spain, Belgium, and Switzerland. Other countries are at various stages of incompleteness at the moment, but since we coded in a random order, the data should already be useable at this stage. Note that the update used slightly different methodology: (a) we selected articles still manually, but with the help of keywords rather than physically searching printed newspapers in the archive; (b) the codebook is simplified in a few places, but is backwards compatible. The data and codebook are available on Zenodo, and include data from the SOM core project recoded to match the simplified codebook.
New Publication: SOM in Portugal
Posted 12 July 2020
First results from the SOM project in Portugal are out in JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13048. The article by João Carvalho and Mariana Carmo Duarte examines the politicization of immigration and immigrant integration in Portugal between 1995 and 2014, and explores reasons for the low levels of politicization.
New Publications
Posted 16 March 2019
Members of the SOM project continue to publish on the politicization of immigration. Here are some of our latest publications:
Ruedin, Didier. 2019. ‘South African Parties Hardly Politicise Immigration in Their Electoral Manifestos’. Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies. DOI:10.1080/02589346.2019.1608713
Carvalho, J. and Ruedin, D. 2018. ‘The Positions Mainstream Left Parties Adopt on Immigration: A Crosscutting Cleavage?’, Party Politics. Forthcoming. DOI:10.1177/1354068818780533
Ruedin, Didier, and Laura Morales. 2017. “Estimating Party Positions on Immigration: Assessing the Reliability and Validity of Different Methods.” Party Politics. Forthcoming. DOI: 10.1177/1354068817713122
Van Heerden, Sjoerdje C., and Wouter van der Brug, ‘Demonisation and electoral support for populist radical right parties: A temporary effect’. Electoral Studies. 47(6): 36-45.
Ruedin, Didier. 2017. Citizenship regimes and the politicization of immigrant groups. Austrian Journal of Political Sciences. 46(1):7-19. DOI: 10.15203/ozp.1591.vol46iss1
Review of Politicisation of Migration ("SOM Book")
Posted 23 March 2017
Almost exactly two years after the publication of The Politicisation of Migration, we're happy to announce a review of the book in REFUGE - Canada's Journal on Refugees. Mark Maguire does a commendable job of synthesizing the book and highlighting potential future areas of work. The book is available from Routledge.
Support and Opposition in Portugal
Posted 31 October 2016
Today, the project Support and Opposition in Portugal led by João Carvalho (ISCTE-IUL) officially started with an international workshop in Lisbon. The project team will replicate the SOM study in Portugal 1995 to 2014.
New Publications
Posted 28 October 2016
A project like SOM never quite ends when the funding ends. Here are some recent publications coming out of the project:
Berkhout, Joost, and Didier Ruedin. 2016. Why Religion? Immigrant Groups as Objects of Political Claims on Immigration and Civic Integration in Western Europe, 1995–2009. Acta Politica. Forthcoming.
Wouter van der Brug , Joost Berkhout. 2015. The Effect of Associative Issue Ownership on Parties’ Presence in the News Media. West European Politics. 38(4). DOI: 10.1080/01402382.2015.1039379
Meyer, Sarah, Sieglinde Rosenberger. 2015. Just a Shadow? The Role of Radical Right Parties in the Politicization of Immigration, 1995–2009. Politics and Governance. 3(2). DOI: 10.17645/pag.v3i2.64
Ruedin, Didier. 2015. Increasing Validity by Recombining Existing Indices: MIPEX as a Measure of Citizenship Models. Social Science Quarterly. 96(2): 629-638. DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12162
Morales, Laura, Jean-Benoit Pilet, and Didier Ruedin. 2015. The Gap between Public Preferences and Policies on Immigration: A Comparative Examination of the Effect of Politicization on Policy Congruence. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 41(9):1495-1516. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2015.1021598
Support and Opposition in Italy
Posted 15 October 2016
Ornella Urso (Scuola Normale Superiore) has replicated the SOM project in Italy as part of her PhD, focusing on (changing) frames on immigration and integration in Italy and Spain. She has recently defended her PhD.
The Politicisation of Migration ("SOM Book")
Posted 27 March 2015
Why are migration policies sometimes heavily contested and high on the political agenda? And why do they, at other moments and in other countries, hardly lead to much public debate? The entrance and settlement of migrants in Western Europe has prompted various political reactions. In some countries anti-immigration parties have gained substantial public support while in others migration policies have been hardly controversial. These are the questions addressed in our edited volume The Politicisation of Migration (aka the SOM book), now available from Routledge (edited by Wouter van der Brug, Gianni D'Amato, Didier Ruedin, and Joost Berkhout). The book unites work from all researchers involved in the SOM project and examines how and to what extent immigration has become politicised in the seven SOM countries between 1995 and 2009. With a joint theoretical frame on politicization and de-politicization, the book goes beyond mapping variations across countries and time.
New Publications
Posted 2 September 2014
We're happy to announce the forthcoming publication of our edited volume The Politicisation of Migration, due for publication with Routledge in early 2015 (edited by Wouter van der Brug, Gianni D'Amato, Didier Ruedin, and Joost Berkhout). The book unites work from all researchers involved in the SOM project and examines how and to what extent immigration has become politicised in the seven SOM countries between 1995 and 2009. With a joint theoretical frame on politicization and de-politicization, the book goes beyond mapping variations across countries and time. It emerges that immigration has increasingly become debated in terms of socio-cultural differences. Similarly, beginning with the recent economic crisis, the salience of immigration has decreased. The book finds that mainstream parties -- especially those in government -- are central player in politicizing immigration, leaving a relatively limited role for ‘challengers’ like radical right-wing parties.
In the meantime, Laura Morales and Virgina Ros (along with Sergi Pardos-Prado) saw their article made available online ahead of print. Their paper looks at the changing dynamics of electoral competition around immigration in Spain.
Morales, L., Pardos-Prado, S., Ros, V. 2014. Issue emergence and the dynamics of electoral competition around immigration in Spain. Acta Politica. DOI: 10.1057/ap.2014.33
Replicating SOM
Posted 22 December 2013
The SOM project may officially be finished, but we have just gained a new partner, so to speak. A team in Italy will replicate the SOM project for Italy, adding a country we always thought would be interesting to cover. In this context we have added yet more instructions detailing exactly how we went about data collection.
Morales, L., Pardos-Prado, S., Ros, V. 2014. Issue emergence and the dynamics of electoral competition around immigration in Spain. Acta Politica. DOI: 10.1057/ap.2014.33
Publications
Posted 5 November 2013
Academic publications are notorious for taking time, but we're happy to announce our first publications, in addition to the SOM working papers. Laura Morales and Virgina Ros have a working paper detailing the Spanish case: La politización de la inmigración en España en perspectiva comparada (in Spanish). Didier Ruedin published two papers on party positions on immigration, covering both substantive and more methodological aspects. Sarah Meyer and Teresa Peintinger contributed a chapter (in German) on the inclusion and exclusion of immigrants in Austria to a book edited by Ilker Atac and Sieglinde Rosenberger (read a review of the book).
Results in Brief
Posted 18 October 2013
What is SOM about in a nutshell? The European Commission has now published a brief summary on their website. It's available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Polish. For a more detailed view, have a look at our publications, including the SOM working paper series.
All Data Available
Posted 26 September 2013
In line with policies from the European Commission, all our data are now freely available from our Dataverse. Limited online analyses are possible, too.
Asylum Policy Indicators
Posted 1 February 2013
As part of the project, we have expanded the MIPEX indicators to reach back to 1995. We have also collected an additional indicator on asylum policies. These data are now available separately, to include the entire period: 1995 to 2011. Five aspects of policies related to asylum seekers are covered at five points in time.
Two New Working Papers
Posted 3 November 2012
We are pleased to announce two new working papers on claims-making in the news. The papers by Joost Berkhout provide a detailed description of the politicization of immigration, and discuss conceptual and methodological issues related to the analysis of claims-making in news media respectively.
Berkhout, J. 2012. “Changing Claims and Changing Frames in the Politics of Migration in Western Europe, 1995-2009” SOM Working Paper 9: 1–31.
Berkhout, J.. 2012. “Claims in the News: Conceptual and Methodological Issues” SOM Working Paper 10: 1–39
Final Conference in Brussels
Posted 4 October 2012
Last week we presented our results to a broad audience of social scientists and other possible stakeholders such as journalists, civil servants, and politicians. Some pictures from the event in Brussels are now available.
Policy Briefs Available
Posted 25 September 2012
We are please to present three policy briefs on the politicization of immigration in Europe. The first policy brief outlines key patterns of politicization in the seven countries under study. It clearly outlines how aspects of salience and polarization are different aspects of politicization. The second policy brief focuses on de-politicization: Under what circumstances does the issue of immigration become depoliticized? The third policy brief focuses on the politicization of immigrant groups, specifically Muslims. All policy briefs are available on the policy portal.
Conference: The Politicisation of Migration in Europe
Posted 24 September 2012
This week we will present our results to a broader audience of social scientists and other possible stakeholders such as journalists, civil servants, and politicians. The event will take place on 27 September in Brussels. The full programme is available now.
Data on Political Opportunity Structures (POS)
Posted 13 June 2012
We are pleased to announce the the release of additional data files, on the political opportunity structure (POS). Immigration-related POS indicators cover both the country level and the party level. The data files are available in our data section on this web site, as well as in our Dataverse, where you can download the data in various formats and undertake limited analysis on-line.
Conference: The Politicisation of Migration in Europe
Posted 1 June 2012
On 27 September we will present our results to a broader audience of social scientists and other possible stakeholders such as journalists, civil servants, and politicians. Contact us if you have not received an invitation and would like to attend.
Data on Demographics and Policy
Posted 24 May 2012
We are pleased to announce the the release of our first data files on the demographics of immigration, and the legal and policy situation of immigrants respectively. The data files are available in our data section on this web site, as well as in our Dataverse, where you can download the data in various formats and undertake limited analysis on-line.
SOM Working Paper on Immigrant Categorization
Posted 8 May 2012
How are immigrant groups referred to in claims in the news? In a new working paper, we follow Koopmans (2007) and consider for ways: status categories, racial categories, religious categories, and categories drawing on country of origin or ethnic identities. Whilst we find substantial differences between countries in the use of migrant-group categories, these differences do not fit the policy tradition typology suggested by Koopmans. Of the various groups, we find that Muslims are often differentiated in the news media.
More SOM Working Papers
Posted 21 March 2012
We are pleased to announce the the first batch of working papers for 2012.
Internal Workshop in Brussels
Posted 20 March 2012
The entire SOM team met in Brussels for a constructive internal workshop on 16 and 17 March. The project remains firmly on track, and we are excited to work with the data collected.
SOM Working Papers
Posted 22 November 2011
We are pleased to announce the first papers in the SOM Working Paper Series. Our instructions for data collection are available as working papers in the case of the codebook and the political opportunity structure (POS), and separately in the case of the demographics of immigration.
Internal Workshop in Amsterdam
Posted 2 October 2011
The entire SOM team and the advisory board met in Amsterdam for a constructive internal workshop on 30 September and 1 October. The project remains firmly on track, and we expect to publish working papers before the end of the year.
SOM Has Reached Half-Way Stage
Posted 15 April 2011
The SOM has reached half-way stage on 31 March 2011. The project partners are busy completing the data collection, and the project remains on track. We are looking forward to beginning the analysis soon!
SOM at Tagung Rechtsextremismus in Basel
Posted 14 December 2010
SOM will be present at the Tagung: Rechtsextremismus in der Schweiz: Hintergründe, Trends und Handlungsbedarf on 14 January 2011 in Basel. The project will be introduced to researchers and practitioners working on the extreme right.
Internal Workshop in Las Palmas
Posted 14 December 2010
The entire SOM team met in Las Palmas for an intensive 2-day internal workshop on 9-10 December. The project remains firmly on track, and we have started to collect paper ideas to explore and analyze the data of the SOM project in many ways.
SOM a Success Story
Posted 5 November 2010
SOM is featured as a success story by Euresearch, the Swiss Guide to European Research and Innovation
SOM at Religious Diversity, Tolerance and Values Workshop
Posted 22 September 2010
SOM will be present at the Religious Diversity, Tolerance and Values workshop in Brussels on 18th and 19th October. This workshop organized by the European Commission brings together current and past FP6 and FP7 projects.
SOM at the IMISCOE Annual Conference
Posted 15 September 2010
SOM was present at the IMISCOE 7th Annual Conference in Liège. The project was introduced to other members of the IMISCOE Research Network.
Internal Workshop in Neuchâtel
Posted 12 June 2010
The entire SOM team and the advisory board met in Neuchâtel for a constructive internal workshop on 11 June. The project remains firmly on track.
Website Launched
Posted 19 January 2010
The website of the SOM project finally goes live!
SOM at HERA
Posted 15 December 2009
SOM is present at the HERA Workshop on Humanities - Impact, Trends and Challenges in Berlin. The project will be introduced to a large audience.
SOM Launched
Posted 5 October 2009
The project is launched with an internal workshop in Vienna.