This book presents a comparative analysis of immigration policy in six countries: Sweden, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Switzerland and the Federal Republic of Germany (hereafter called “Germany”). These six countries, referred to as the “immigration countries” or the “project countries”, have all experienced large-scale postwar immigration, and they exemplify a range of different policy responses. They provide examples of rotation or guestworker systems as well as of policies aiming at permanent settlement. They include substantial post-colonial immigration as well as recruitment of foreign labor and consequent family immigration.

This study has been organized around a series of conferences, in which the seven authors have taken part. Six countries are compared, and each author has written one chapter about his own country's immigration policy. In the case of Germany, two authors have collaborated. All the authors met first to discuss the design and content of the study and to agree on a format for each chapter. The second conference was devoted to a discussion of the first drafts of these chapters which, of course, led to discussion of each country's immigration policy as well. The third and fourth conferences concentrated on the comparative analysis presented in the second part of the book.

Although the chapters dealing with each country are based on a common outline and generally address the same questions, each author has also included a discussion of what is unique to his country. Thus, the chapters differ in length and emphasis.