Introduction
Back to: History and Background of Migration in Italy
The issue of immigration, human mobility and, more precisely, the political regulation of the right to move across state borders is one of the fundamental issues of the twenty-first century.
As the sociologist Ambrosini points out: in our societies, we can talk about the stratification of the right to mobility: when we are talking about highly qualified workers, we call it mobility and we urge it; when we are talking about low-skilled workers, we use the term immigration and we try to stop it.1 Mobility usually entails optimistic expectations of benefits for individuals and states, while immigration can give rise to demands for integration and control and anxious feelings or protection of national identity.