Abstract

Migration poses a complex set of challenges and opportunities to the European countries. This chapter starts by discussing definitions of who is a migrant and how and when migrants can become citizens. It puts recent migration trends into historical perspective, looking at the impact that the end of the Cold War, the economic crisis of 2008, and the post-2011, post-Arab Spring period have had on immigration into Europe. European countries are presented, organized into four groups in relation to the length and nature of their migration experience, as countries of destination, origin, or transit. The chapter highlights the interplay between migration policies and the politics of migration in approaches towards migrant integration.