The subject of this dissertation is a theoretical and empirical analysis of the transformations of cultural identity in the context of intercultural communication. In the course of processing the chosen topic the author used the theoretical knowledge acquired by studying professional books and other relevant sources as well as the empirical data which were gathered by the author during her anthropological field research over her two-year stay in Berlin. The main objective of the dissertation was to describe, analyse and interpret the phenomenon of cultural identity in the context of migration processes, globalization and the European refugee crisis. Special attention was, therefore, paid to the situation of foreigners who find themselves in a new different culture and are going through a difficult process of adaptation to a new environment. Transformations of the foreigners identity and their relationship to the majority culture are also being studied in terms of different types of immigration policies in host countries. In the focus of the research interest were the questions of the efficiency of assimilation, integration and multicultural policy. Among the sub-objectives of the work are included the description and analysis of the processes of formation, reproduction and transformation of...

This essay contributes new knowledge on Sweden’s immigrant- and integration policy during the years 1974–1986 by researching the policy’s treatment of immigrants’ religion and that of their faith communities. This is achieved through an empirical analysis on how immigrants’ religion was understood, argued for and regulated during key points of policy evaluation, as well as how this was expressed in practice by relevant actors and measures. The analysis focusses on the official government investigations that respectively formulated and evaluated Sweden’s integration policy. It furthermore delves into how immigrant faith communities were institutionally represented and allocated state support by the two state-affiliated organizations associated with these tasks, namely the Swedish Free Church Council (SFR) and its Cooperation Committee for State Support to Faith Communities (SFRS/SST). The essay draws its inspiration and theoretical departure points from theories on secularism, bureaucratization and models of immigrant incorporation, which are operationalized using a ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ (WPR) methodology. The essay’s empirical findings indicate that religion was initially understood to have reduced cultural and societal significance than ethnicity and language. This understanding gradually changed over time and was amended when Swedish integration policy was evaluated during the 1980s. The empirical analysis furthermore shows that immigrant faith communities received reduced state support in relation to immigrant ethnic organizations, which resulted in administrative and representational dependency on SFR and SST. Following the policy’s evaluation during the 1980s, an initiative to increase state support for faith communities and improve their organizational independence was taken by the Swedish state but had not been implemented by 1986.

This study was the first to examine the impact of immigrant-focused public policy on the educational outcomes of Latinx students in professional nursing. Between 2001-2020, 34 states adopted policies that either provided or prohibited in-state resident tuition (ISRT) and/or state financial aid (SFA) to undocumented students. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act (DACA) passed in 2012 gave a new group of largely Latinx, college-age immigrants unprecedented access to public higher education and employment. A rapid increase in the proportion of nursing degrees earned by all Latinx students, not just those who were undocumented, occurred concurrently with these federal and state-level policy changes. This study utilized fixed-effects panel analysis to estimate the relationship between DACA, ISRT, and SFA policies for undocumented students on the percent of nursing degrees earned by Latinx students between 2005-2020. None of the policies analyzed in this study were significant predictors of Latinx nursing degree completions. Broad cohesion among all models instead pointed toward the importance of gains in overall degree production among all Latinx college students, underscoring the important role of higher education in the creation of environments that support the success of students from this target population.

The thesis deals with immigration policies of EU member states, specifically Germany, Sweden and Italy, after year 2000. Using the method of comparative case study its goal is to identify factors that affect immigration policy of a state based on comparison of immigration policies of three examined countries. Another objective is to find out, what determines the success of a particular immigration policy. In this context, the work tries to verify the following two hypotheses: (1) The Europeanization of immigration policy leads to national policies getting more similar to each other, yet still differences persist that are caused by the particularities of each country. The way a state approaches the issue of immigration is to a substantial degree influenced by non-material factors, especially its understanding of the definition of its own national identity and citizenship. and (2) Success of an immigration policy largely depends on whether its objectives take into account the limits of liberal democracy and liberal state in general. Nowadays the nation-state is not able to control all the movement on its territory and thus significantly affect such a global phenomenon as migration. Moreover, status of a liberal state implies certain commitments and expected behaviour, particularly in relation to...

The Master thesis "The Immigration Policy of Norway after 2011" deals with Norwegian immigration policy, specifically with changes of immigration policy which took place after 2011. In July of this year, the attacks of Andres Breivik happened in the downtown of Oslo and on the island of Utøya. In the following years, the Norwegian immigration policy begin to change firstly gradually, than the changes occurred in faster pace, since the new coalition of Conservative Party and Progress Party began to rule after the General Election in autumn 2013. The goal of this Master thesis is to introduce changes in Norwegian immigration policy which took place after 2011, and find out what was behind these changes and thus was the cause of them. The thesis uses theoretical approaches explaining how policy change can happen, Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and Advocacy Coalition Framework. The first approach clarifies change of policy through period of disequilibrium which is caused by critical event. Second approach then illustrates that policy can change because the cooperation of political elite. Main research question of this Master thesis is how the Norwegian immigration policy has changed since 2011. Hypothesis then, that the Norwegian immigration policy has changed during the last for years, and not just...

The immigration has became the main topic in many western countries during several past years. This thesis focuses on immigration policy of the United Kingdom, where immigration represents 12,5 % of the whole population. Namely it deals with immigration policy during the premiership of David Cameron in the years 2010 to 2015. This topic is relatively recent, therefore has not been sufficiently explored. Moreover, attention is usually focused on integration policy; as a consequence thesis should contribute to mapping of actual immigration policy in the United Kingdom. This thesis examines which specific changes in immigration policy have been introduced by the government of David Cameron. Immigration policy is analyzed on base of the new Immigration Act and other documents which amended new law, then on the reforms of visa policy. The main objective of the analysis is to map immigration policy of David Cameron and reveal the specific steps taken by the government. The thesis also examines whether the development of immigration policy changes are applied to all immigrants from non-EU countries, or only to a certain type of immigrants. It also rates the achievement of stated goals of the Conservative Party.

This study is focusing on the comparison of the asylum and immigration policy of Austria and Switzerland. The time frame chosen for this study are the first two decades of the new millennium. The study captures the breaking point in asylum and immigration policy which the European migration crisis had been in between the years 2015 and 2016. The securitization theory and the concept of national identity are used in explaining the shifts in adopted policies. The study grasps the process of securitization taking place thorough the chosen time frame with concentrating on what impact national identity had have in constructing security threads. The paper concludes that securitization of migration had indeed taken place in the chosen time frame. However, the specifics of each countries national identity have had very little impact on adoption of new legislation.

This thesis investigates the connection between migration discourses and politics through the assyrian/syrian immigration to Sweden 1975-1982. Using Bacchi’s “What’s the problem (represented to be)?” (WPR) methodology, which is based on Foucault’s theories of governmentality, this thesis investigates how preconceptions of issues forms understanding of them as problems and shapes the possible solutions to the problem concerned. The results of this thesis indicates that the assyrian/syrian immigration to Sweden was understood by the government and its agencies as an issue of control over the population and over immigration. There was a consensus amongst all parties that immigration to Sweden must be regulated both by law and in numbers and in distribution across the country but disagreements existed on solutions. This study aims to increase knowledge of the different responses to the assyrian/syrian immigration in order to further understanding of how political consensus shapes immigration politics and how border politics and integration politics intersect and affect one another.

Labor market matching has significant economic and social impacts since a low matching efficiency/quality reduces aggregated gains in productivity and wages and may lead to unemployment and job vacancy. IT has played a crucial role in influencing labor markets matching by reducing search costs, lowering enter barriers, and promoting flexibility. In this dissertation, I explore one antecedent (i.e., digital labor markets) and two consequences of labor market matching (i.e., local employment and wage). The first essay examines the role of project descriptions (i.e., codifiability, flexibility, outcome standards) in influencing the matching efficiency in the digital labor markets. The results find that an appropriate project description could improve the matching efficiency by 15% between employers and service providers. The second essay studies the impact of an extension in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program (STEM OPT), an immigration policy that matches local demand with global supply, on local labor markets. I found that the STEM OPT extension boosts employment for domestic IT professionals by promoting innovative and entrepreneurial activities. The third essay studies the impact of an emerging gig platform (i.e., TaskRabbit), a new matching mechanism, on the employment of workers in the housekeeping industry. The results suggest that the platform mostly impacted middle-level management (e.g., first-line supervisors), while the manual workers, such as cleaners and janitors, were not as affected. The contributions and implications of each essay are discussed. / Business Administration/Management Information Systems

In the United States, some states and higher education institutions allow undocumented students to pay in-state resident tuition at public colleges and universities. Yet, when undocumented youth apply and seek to qualify for in-state tuition, they find bureaucratic procedures and rules that may discourage them from applying at all, delay, or hamper their access to higher education. The study explores how such bureaucratic requirements impose learning, compliance, and psychological burdens on undocumented youth. Building upon administrative burdens scholarship and using qualitative and quantitative analyses of admissions applications at the institutional level, undocumented students reports' of their experiences, and surveys of college admissions officers, this study examines the admissions requirements and other factors that may shape the applications of undocumented students to colleges in the states providing ISRT benefits for undocumented youth. The findings suggest that undocumented youth navigate multifaceted institutional contexts across and within states, including requirements and rules at different organizational levels and interactions with admissions officers whose discretion may facilitate or obstruct access. Variations in ISRT requirements reflect states' patterns of immigration, demographics, political (sub) cultures, narratives about the deservingness, organizational factors as well as the discretion that college personnel has in applying the requirements. Findings suggest that factors associated with residency, notarized affidavits, tax forms, and lack of clear information and guidance from college personnel substantially increase burdens when undocumented youth seek to benefit from ISRT. Certainly, when states, institutions, and admissions officers establish and shape ISRT requirements, they implicitly influence the sense of belonging and membership of undocumented applicants and mediate intergovernmental tension surrounding legalization and inclusion of this population in society. / Doctor of Philosophy / Bureaucratic requirements and rules at some public colleges and universities in the United States may hamper the ability of undocumented immigrants to apply for admission and qualify for in-state resident tuition in the states and colleges that allow it. This study explores how such bureaucratic requirements impose learning, compliance, and psychological burdens on undocumented youth and the factors associated with such burdens. The study examines admissions applications in community colleges in the states where the benefit is available, interviews and surveys with undocumented youth as well as surveys of colleges admissions officers. The findings show that the administrative burdens that undocumented youth faces result from requirements and rules that overlap at different organizational levels, several policy interpretations, the intertwine between immigration and higher education policies, perceptions of such population's deservingness, and the discretion of admissions officers. Through these requirements, states and colleges shape the sense of belonging of immigrant youth and chart their legal and social inclusion.