This book examines the determinants of immigration policy for workers in low-skilled jobs (LILSO) in democratic states. It moves beyond conventional economic explanations of migration policy and explores the complex interplay of political, historical, institutional, and social factors that shape labor immigration regulations. Key themes include:
• The role of institutions and historical contexts in shaping long-term migration policy trends.
• The political and social conditions that lead to policy changes beyond economic drivers.
• The interaction between stable institutional frameworks and short-term political and societal shifts.
Methodologically, it employs Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), a case-oriented approach that allows for the identification of complex causal patterns and multiple pathways leading to similar policy outcomes. By studying nearly 30 democratic countries and over 80 immigration policy reforms between 1990 and 2019, the book presents a comparative analysis of migration regulation types and the policy shifts that occur under different economic and political conditions.

About the Author

Anna-Christine Görg is a research associate at the Social Sciences Institute of the University of Hildesheim, Germany. Her research focuses on migration and asylum, migration policy discourses, complexity in democracies, and comparative policy analysis with a regional emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe; methodologically, she works with approaches such as Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and text-as-data methods.