The relevance of immigrant organisations for both the host society and the immigrants themselves has been effectively demonstrated in many different studies. However, the question why immigrant organisations emerge and why they often persist over a long period is not adequately answered.

In this study a comparative approach is used to reveal the structural determinants of the immigrant organising process. Different theoretical perspectives are combined (immigration model, social movement theory and the organisational ecology model). It is this combination of models, which has not yet been done by other scholars, which determines the value of this study and the contribution to a better understanding of the immigrant organising process.

This title is published in the IMISCOE-AUP Book Series. In co-operation with the Amsterdam University Press (AUP) the IMISCOE Network has created five IMISCOE book series.

A comparative method is used, analysing Turkish organisations in Amsterdam and Berlin and Surinamese organisations in Amsterdam (1960-2000), to explain the way in which the three explanatory models can be combined in one coherent explanation.

The IMISCOE-AUP Book Series are part of IMISCOE which is an EU funded Network of Excellence in the Sixth Framework Programme.

IMISCOE Network of Excellence
Karen Kraal (Communication Officer), tel. +31 (0)20 525 3659

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Floris Vermeulen is a researcher at the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES), Political Science Department, University of Amsterdam.

research

Urban Policy

Social inclusion & integration