The Heuristic Potential of Models of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration Reviewed

This special issue of the Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies reviews the use of models for international comparisons of citizenship and immigrant integration. The introduction explores criticism and works to reevaluate the use of models in terms of both conceptual clarity (i.e., distinguishing between different empirical fields where models come into play, such as political and public discourses, policies and institutions, and processes of social integration) and methodological discipline (distinguishing between models used as dependent or independent variables). In sum, this issue suggests that models can help to explain political debates and processes, and the formulation of public policies but that their explanatory power for social processes is limited.