6.7.8.3   Managing Population Movements

(This is an archived page, from the Patterns of Power Edition 3 book.  Current versions are at book contents).

As people increasingly move around the world, whether they are driven by economic factors (3.4.3.1) or as refugees from oppression, they have an impact on the neighbourhood they arrive in.  Politicians need to be visibly managing the flows of people, ensuring that there are adequate public services and addressing the impact of cultural change – and doing so on a localised basis.

The liberal ideals, of free movement and equality of treatment, are in tension with people's concerns about immigrants: taking jobs, needing houses and using public services such as health and education.  Local people would probably feel better if there were a visible mechanism of control, even if immigrants are eventually admitted after due process.  The existence of a process would legitimise acceptance of the newcomers.  Existing inhabitants would have an additional reason for valuing their citizenship (6.7.3.3), because they would see that the benefits that they enjoy are not just casually given to anyone.

A system of residence permits, such as that described in the “Guide to French visas and permits”,[1] can enable local government to ensure that incomers can support themselves; it would also enable a check to be made that there is adequate housing, infrastructure and public services for them.  Local authorities should also have the right to insist that all job vacancies are locally advertised before jobs are offered to people from other places. 

Reference has already been made to cultural evolution (4.2.5), and the gradual shift in cultural values as new arrivals are absorbed into the existing population.  Instant communication across the Internet has also enabled changes in attitude to be spread right across the world.  Some people find these cultural changes unsettling and, as examined in the next sub-section (6.7.8.4), there are risks of political problems if people's concerns are not addressed.

Some of the principles involved in addressing the cultural pluralism were identified earlier: responding to the needs of immigrants (6.7.4.1), ensuring equal political treatment of all ethnic groups (6.7.4.8), and a policy of inclusivity in education (6.7.4.9).  At a practical level, these policies need to be visibly implemented in the local areas most affected. 

Central funding needs to be made available to localities which have to accommodate large numbers of incomers, so that public services can be expanded; local politicians should use the appropriate mechanisms to initiate action (6.7.8.1).  Most of the thinking and writing, such as David Miller's “Political Philosophy of Immigration”,[2] has been at a national level – but responses need to be localised to be effective.  The problems are radically different in Dover (where refugees might arrive), London (which has a rich history of successfully absorbing immigration) and East Anglia (where immigration is necessary to pick fruit but has created “Fear and anger in [a] once-wealthy town”).