Economic And Political Impact Of International Migration

Mainstream international economics theory holds that the free flow of goods and factor of production on a global scale is not only beneficial for the rational allocation of factors, but also will eventually lead to equal remuneration of the factor of production, even can eliminate the gap between the rich and poor countries. Meanwhile, the globalization of the economy should not only include the free flow of goods and capital, but also should include the free movement of labor. As the free flow of goods and capital, the free migration of labor between countries can improve the efficiency of resource allocation and social welfare level.Although free migration can increase the total output of the world economy, it is not a Pareto improvement, because there are political constraints. In the capitalist world system, the presence of sovereign states has become the root of impeding the free flow of international migration. The existence of sovereign states is based on the premise of labor market segmentation and restrictions on liberal migration, thus forming the asymmetry of factor mobility in the process of capitalist globalization. It is just because of the contradictions between the immigrants’ cross-border movement under the background of economic globalization and the world political system with the nation-state at its center, thus makes the transnational migration wandering between states and markets. Furthermore, under the strong pressure of domestic interest groups and the mainstream society, the immigrant-receiving countries always prefer the political choice when dealing with migration-related problems. The European countries also adopt the same policy on the Muslim immigrants’ issues.Scholars and mainstream society debating Muslim immigrants are essentially divided into three warring camps. The first camp holds that the problems associated with Muslims and integration in Europe are rooted in the difference between Islamic culture and the homogenous-culture in Europe, so multiculturalism does nothing to the integration of Muslims; The second camp holds that the problems are rooted in the European Mainstream’s intolerance and hostility to diversity, so enforce assimilation is still the best method to solve the Muslim issues; The third camp holds that the economic element, namely the high unemployment levels of Muslim immigrants in Europe, is the basic reason for the failure of the integration.The history of Europe has been built on the basis of migration. Due to the declining birth rate and an aging population, it is necessary for Europe to live in harmony with migrants in order to maintain its social development. It’s also a historical necessity to keep the cultural diversity for Europe. Only the mainstream European society identify the Islamic culture from the bottom of heart, treat the Muslim immigrants equally, try their best to enhance Muslims’ income by education, welfare and economic growth, can it avoid further deterioration of Muslim issues. Therefore, the future of a new Europe should take "Fair Standards", rather than "Race", as the base for the construct of a new citizenship.