NCJ Number
202682
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2003 Pages: 449-462
Date Published
October 2003
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article examines recent immigration policy in the United Kingdom focusing in on the White Paper, Secure Borders, Safe Haven: Integration with Diversity in Modern Britain written as an outcome of the 2001 riots in Northern English cities.
Abstract
Three events shaped recent British immigration policy: (1) the repeated attempt by illegal immigrants to board the freight and passenger trains at Sangatte; (2) the riots which occurred in the North of England in 2001; and (3) the extremely hostile reception to the dispersal of immigrants in disturbances in various towns. Several documents arose from the riots which occurred in the North of England. The most important or most pivotal was the White Paper, Secure Borders, Safe Haven: Integration with Diversity in Modern Britain. This paper represents the application of such inclusionary principles to the problem of immigration. The push is on propelling forces of globalization, the economic gains of incorporation, and the need for inclusion. It talks of cultural inclusion and then economic inclusion. This article discusses the form of cultural inclusion it takes. The White Paper is multiculturalist and advocates both economic and refugee immigration. It welcomes the cultural and economic contribution to Britain of the immigrant communities. Its policy solution is social inclusionary, seeking a diverse population with a common citizenship and sense of civil virtue and responsibility. This policy is a significant change from that of the 1980's and 1990's. However, criticisms of this White Paper are presented and revolve around a more general critique of New Labor’s underlying doctrine of social inclusion, both in its economic and cultural dimensions. References