Immigration policy paradoxes in Catalonia, Spain, 1985-2011: a political economy approach by Luke Stobart submitted to the University of Hertfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of PhD in Business and Management Studies March 2016 Abstract Before the crisis Catalonia and the rest of Spain received high volumes of immigration – of which much was “illegal”. This was despite formally strict controls – EU policy – and different governments in Madrid claiming to operate a legal model of migration – leading to identification of a “policy paradox”. In the same period immigration became problematized, which in Catalonia allowed xenophobic politics to gain popular support – despite being a territory proactive at integrating newcomers. This research aimed to identify the undercurrents of these contradictions and respond to questions on the relative impact of business, state, national and electoral factors. It surveys literature on migration paradoxes and theories, develops an original conceptual framework by critically assessing a range of radical writing, performs quantitative and secondary study of the Catalan, Spanish and European economic and policy contexts (in general and regarding immigration), and analyses findings from interviews with privileged “insiders” and observers (employers, union leaders, migrant activists and policy advisors). Policy contradictions and the problematization of immigration were identified as rooted firstly in the inherent contradictions of the capitalist state. States must ensure availability of new reserves of labour to guarantee accumulation and make savings by not having to “socially reproduce” “imported” labour power. Yet their abstract national and bounded character propels constant nationcraft – a process best performed invisibly and negatively by symbolically and practically excluding migrants from territory, rights and citizenship. Dynamics are further driven by the desire to be seen to preserve the “rule of law” and guarantee the exclusivity of national “social contracts”. Nation-building in policymaking was detected by uncovering the national-linguistic considerations behind the controversial drive to devolve immigration powers to Catalonia. Mushrooming irregularity was a result of migrant agency and the restrictive tendencies of the Aznar administration and EU. Despite the Popular Party (and EU) being notably pro-business, tensions emerged with employers who lobbied alongside unions to bring about the liberalisations introduced by the Zapatero government (2004-2011). Employers benefit from the (continued) institutional conditioning of migrant labour and irregular hiring has been tolerated – aided by a relatively informal and insecure labour market. Yet it is a mistake to see high levels irregularity simply as labour policy. The unequal and instrumental nature of European integration meant the Spanish State played a border policing role that threatened its labour needs before the crisis. This led to political “fudge” based on varying models of irregularity-amnesty-irregularity, and reinforced pro-European and Hispanist migrant recruitment tendencies. Changes in government have reshaped policymaking (and increased or decreased related tensions) but less-democratic influences were identified in interviews and a clear political economy of immigration can be identified. Acknowledgements I am grateful to very many people that helped me develop this research practically, theoretically and in written form. In particular I would like to give thanks to my (long-suffering) PhD supervisors Professor Jane Hardy and Doctor Keith Salmon of the University of Hertfordshire, who provided valuable guidance throughout on practical matters, political economy and contemporary Spain. Many others also deserve thanks for conversations and ideas that helped me with my research and writing: Blanca Garcés Mascareñas, Jonny Jones, Lindsey German, Victoria B-G Stadheim, Gareth Dale, Simon Joyce, Ruth Lorimer, Colin Barker, Miriyam Aouragh, Iolanda Maurici, and Andy Durgan. I also would like to express my gratitude to those that gave vital personal support while performing the investigation: my mother (Liz Lyddon), my father (Ralph Stobart), my brother (Joel Stobart) and my friends Helios Alonso Cabanillas, Uzma Hussain, Rosa Rodríguez, Isaac Salinas, Ester Jordana, Kyriacos Tsappas and Piers Telemacque – among others. Finally Chaleo Yoovidhya deserves a mention as the inventor of Red Bull – without which this dissertation would have been incomplete(!) Table of contents 1. Introduction and research design 1.1 Centrality of immigration and main research question 1.2 Engagement with recent historical developments in Spain 1.2.1 The El Ejido conflicts and government and migrant responses Problems that emerged from the 2000 reform of the Aliens’ Law 1.2.2 Debates on immigration as a “problem” 1.2.3 The rise of racist politics in Catalonia 1.3 Spanish (and Catalan) policy paradoxes 1.4 Research sub-questions 1.5 Research design and methodology 1.5.1 Theoretical considerations and general method 1.5.2 Interview planning 1.5.3 Interviews 1.5.4 Employers 1.5.5 Processing the interview material 1.6 Structure of thesis 2 Migration literature on policy gaps; general theories 2.1 The debate on “unwanted immigration” 2.1.1 Assessing the “client politics” approach Related views on voters as drivers of restriction 2.1.2 Contradictory liberalism 2.1.2.1 “Liberal constraints” on states Global rights versus national restrictions 2.1.2.2 Assessing the liberal-constraint theses 2.1.3 Culturalism and state borders 2.2 General frameworks featuring paradoxes 2.2.1 Hampshire’s model Evaluating Hampshire 2.2.2 Boswell and the contradictory functions of “states” 2.2.3 Structuralist analyses 2.2.3.1 Globalisation and decline of sovereignty Appraising the globalist case 2.2.3.2 Economic interests in illegality Structural irregularity 2.2.3.3 Contradictory tendencies in capitalism Harvey’s labour mobility versus immobility State versus capital as the key to the irregularity paradox Dale’s alternative development Migrant agency as a source of paradox 2.3 Conclusion 3 The immigration “problem”: an alternative framework 3.1 The economics of the immigration issue 3.1.1 Territorial freeing of labour in the age of revolution and capital 3.1.2 Coerced labour from periphery to core 3.1.3 Uses and abuses of characterising migrants as “a modern reserve army of labour” Applying the “reserve” concept adequately 3.1.4 Migrant labour from the viewpoint of social reproduction 3.1.4.1 Free or cheaper social reproduction 3.1.4.2 Migration and the welfare contract 3.2 The politics of immigration 3.2.1 Early Modern imagining and making of a people Proto-nationalist expulsions 3.2.2 Creation of the nation-state, citizens and “foreigners” Nationalism, racism and the first immigration controls The “nationness” and liberalness of states and the drive for immobility 3.2.3 State, nation and Othering The democratic state as capitalist state Permanent nation-statecraft and the problematisation of migrants 3.3 Conclusion 4. Catalonia and Spain´s new immigration: features and political-economic context 4.1 Catalan and Spanish politics 1977-2019 Preliminary notes on the Autonomous Community of Catalonia 4.1.1 The general politics of post-dictatorship Spain The political culture established in the transition period Party politics 1982-2011 4.1.2 Catalan national politics under regional autonomy Using autonomy to dilute minority national aspirations Using autonomy to build the Catalan nation Diverging national projects 1996-2001 The failure to reform the Catalan Statute 4.2 Pronounced business cycles, flexibility and migrants 4.2.1 Structural precariousness and migrant labour Migrant and precarious labour as distinct categories 4.2.2 Underground hiring 4.2.3 Migrants in “boom” and “bust” 4.3 New immigration in Spain and Catalonia 4.3.1 Patterns of the new immigration in Spain 4.3.1.1 Origins of foreign residents in Spain 4.3.1.2 Migrants in the workforce 4.3.2 New immigration patterns in Catalonia 4.4 Conclusion 5 Primary and secondary findings on multi-level policy: dissonance in seeking control, labour and integration 5.1 Europe 5.1.1 Slow and uneven evolution of EU migration governance Gradual communitarisation and multi-tier development of policymaking 5.1.2 Common policies Near removal of internal borders under Schengen EU border policy and its two features Other EU policies and their limitations 5.1.3 Neoliberalism and bidirectional political influences 5.2 Spain 5.2.1 Spanish policymaking and transformations Consultative forums and their changing importance in the 2000s Civil society’s roles in processes Policies that created Spain’s irregular migration model 5.2.2 Spanish policy 1985-2011 5.2.2.1Evolution of policy The creation of Spain’s irregular migration model Hardening of policy under Aznar Continuities and change during Zapatero’s first term Less visible and more mixed policies 2008-2011 5.2.2.2 Policy responses to irregularity Irregular entry or settlement Recurrent and larger amnesties Limited acts of deportation Few actions against irregular employment 5.2.3 Two additional features of Spanish policy 5.3 Catalonia 5.3.1 Catalonia’s frustrated attempts at self-management of immigration 5.3.2 The Catalan emphasis on integration and its rationale Envisaging the new immigration as a bigger “threat” 5.3.3 immigration-related institutional structure and policies Implemented policies 5.4 Conclusion 6 Empirical discoveries: migration policymaking