An empirical–analytical approach to the study of recent refugee migrants in Germany

Abstract

Given the recent surge in interest in refugee research, this editorial discusses whether the study of refugees’ migration and integration requires entirely new theoretical and methodological approaches. We make the case that refugee migration is a special type of migration and that refugee integration is subject to similar laws and regularities as the integration of all kinds of immigrants. Therefore, it should be studied using conventional theoretical and analytical approaches to empirical–analytical migration and integration research. Obviously, special conditions of refugee migration apply, such as specific patterns of refugees’ selectivity, health and resource endowment, settlement conditions, and reception or integration services. However, such peculiarities do not represent distinct mechanisms; they are simply background conditions for more general mechanisms. Contributions to this Special Issue, which all rely on new high-quality data from Germany, best highlight the universality of general mechanisms of immigrant integration, on the one hand, and the relevance of refugee migrants’ specific characteristics and conditions, on the other hand.