Convergences and Divergences: Explaining Japanese and British Immigration Policy with Thin Constructivism

Abstract

This thesis seeks to contribute to the International Relations literature of migration by exploring the roles of ethnic conceptions of national identity and economic pressures in forming immigration control policies. Specifically, how these two factors can explain both convergences and divergences in immigration control policies between the UK and Japan. Explaining both convergences and divergences in immigration policies between states with these factors provides an alternative explanation of the immigration-related behaviour of developed states to that of the Convergence Hypothesis, which is outlined herein. This is achieved through a ‘thin’ constructivist examination of key immigration control legislation in the UK and Japan and the forces behind their creation, as well as examinations of existing academic literature surrounding immigration developments in both states. The author argues that both the convergences and divergences of immigration control policies in the UK and Japan can be explained largely by an interplay between ideational and material factors (ethnic conceptions of national identity and economic pressures respectively) which shapes immigration control laws and accordingly immigration control policies.

The UK and Japan have implemented laws that aim to restrict certain forms of immigration that are perceived as threats to the state’s at times changing ethnic conception of national identity. These identities have changed since the middle of the 20th century for both Japan and the UK, and have had large impacts on their respective immigration control laws and policies. Economic pressures also play a significant role in determining immigration laws by encouraging immigration that at times challenges, but is also dampened by, the state’s interest in preserving its ethnically conceived national identity.