España, país de migraciones1882-2019 análisis y comparación de las propuestas electorales en materia migratoria frente al legado histórico

Abstract

The cliché, repeated in the political and administrative spheres, which justified the peculiarity that Spanish society, due to its migratory past, remained safe from xenophobic ideologies, was questioned when a political party with categorical anti-immigration proposals obtained appreciable support in 2018 regional elections. This was consolidated in 2019 general election. This situation is the cornerstone of this work about the history of Spain as a migratory country alongside the analysis and assessment of the manifestos of the different political parties for the aforementioned 2019 election. The thesis is structured around three pillars: - The first one reviews the migratory movements of Spanish citizens, both abroad -emigration- and within the national territory-internal migrations. Year 1882 is taken as the starting point as it is the date from which statistical series are available, and as the end point, the year this research began. - The second pillar analyses the evolution and regulations governing the situation of foreigners in Spain -immigration- with special focus on the last quarter of the 20th century. The progressive development of a migration policy by the European Union results in the Spanish policy on the matter being conditioned by it since the early years of the 21st century. 2019 coincides with the end of the mandate of the European Commission, which would have faced major migration crises, both for economic and military reasons. - The third of the pillars consists of the analysis, comparison, and evaluation of the manifestos regarding immigration matters of the political parties that obtained parliamentary representation. To this end, a questionnaire was sent to each of them, in order to specify and broaden its content, which was completed with semi-structured interviews with four national parties. It is regrettable that some of the parties did not respond to the questionnaire. The conclusions that can be drawn from the pillars can be found at the end of each of them, regardless of the fact that at the end of the investigation the main conclusions are collected, in order to facilitate interpretation and assessment. This work is distinguished by an original and innovative approach towards migration. The traditional frame of reference, based on the analysis of the factors that originate it and its individual dimension, is shifted to focus on the "migration industry", in which the public authorities, with their regulatory and administrative intervention, play an essential role in the evolution of migration.