Canada, France, and Germany share many similarities, for example, their democratic principles and constitutional commitment to human rights and equal opportunities. However, each country approaches immigration differently. Friederike Alm presents a comparative-historical analysis which sheds light on the historical trajectory of migration politics in the three countries since 1945. The author proposes a new concept for migration research, the migration politics nexus, which highlights the interconnection between immigration, citizenship, and integration politics.

Academic literature often points to the juxtaposition of Canadian, French and German migration politics. Canada is portrayed as the multicultural immigration country; France, the civic-assimilationist immigration country, and Germany, the co-ethnic and reluctant immigration country. While typologies like these are commonly held as a popular heuristic device in social sciences, these models are contested by migration researchers who are weary of the static pigeon-holing of immigration countries. Friederike Alm therefore poses a new approach to understand the emergence and historical change of countries’ migration politics. The book starts with a conceptualization of migration politics as an interconnected nexus between immigration, citizenship, and integration politics. This analytical tool then guides the comparative-historical analysis of Canadian, French, and German migration politics. The author focusses on historical periods of paradigmatic change in the respective countries to identify when and how the migration politics nexus underwent significant change. Her analysis yields three significant contributions to migration studies and political science: 1) Conceptual: The migration politics nexus emerges as a useful tool to explain the interactive dynamics in the history of migration politics in all three country cases. 2) Comparative: Despite their frequent juxtaposition, Canada, France, and Germany have become more aligned in their approaches in the 21st century. 3) Methodological: comparative-historical analysis is shown to be a fruitful research approach to demonstrate both differences and similarities between the three countries across the past 70 years.