TY - JOUR
T1 - Limits of the competition state?
T2 - The cultural political economy of European labor migration policies
AU - Paul, R.
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - Labor migration has been revitalized as part of economic competition and growth strategies across Europe over the last decade. Scholars have framed policy changes towards more liberal recruitment as a turn towards 'competition state' and Schumpeterian innovation goals. This article evaluates the extent to which British, French and German labor admission policies are dominated by competition state logics. I apply a cultural political economy perspective, thereby substantiating this relatively new approach analytically and testing its usefulness for capturing the economic governance of labor migration. I argue that the highly selective arrangement of admissions - with regard to skill-level targeted, and causal, spatial, and operational foci of recruitment - creates a fragmented cultural political economy of labor migration. While competition state logics shape the economic imaginary of 'high-skilled global labor competiveness', rival logics dominate the imaginaries of 'skilled national labor shortages', and 'lower skilled EU labor self-sufficiency'. Findings pinpoint limits of competition state theory in explaining contemporary labor migration policy. I demonstrate that semiotic and regulatory selectivity is a key remedy for coping with competing state projects and associated policy tensions. The political ordering of labor migration simultaneously entails amplification and silencing of competition state logics in policies.
AB - Labor migration has been revitalized as part of economic competition and growth strategies across Europe over the last decade. Scholars have framed policy changes towards more liberal recruitment as a turn towards 'competition state' and Schumpeterian innovation goals. This article evaluates the extent to which British, French and German labor admission policies are dominated by competition state logics. I apply a cultural political economy perspective, thereby substantiating this relatively new approach analytically and testing its usefulness for capturing the economic governance of labor migration. I argue that the highly selective arrangement of admissions - with regard to skill-level targeted, and causal, spatial, and operational foci of recruitment - creates a fragmented cultural political economy of labor migration. While competition state logics shape the economic imaginary of 'high-skilled global labor competiveness', rival logics dominate the imaginaries of 'skilled national labor shortages', and 'lower skilled EU labor self-sufficiency'. Findings pinpoint limits of competition state theory in explaining contemporary labor migration policy. I demonstrate that semiotic and regulatory selectivity is a key remedy for coping with competing state projects and associated policy tensions. The political ordering of labor migration simultaneously entails amplification and silencing of competition state logics in policies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84872019255&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2012.730764
U2 - 10.1080/19460171.2012.730764
DO - 10.1080/19460171.2012.730764
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84872019255
SN - 1946-0171
VL - 6
SP - 379
EP - 401
JO - Critical Policy Studies
JF - Critical Policy Studies
IS - 4
ER -