This book provides a cross-regional investigation of the role of citizenship and ethnicity in migration, political incorporation, and political transnationalism in the age of globalization, exploring the political realities of Dutch Antilleans in the Netherlands and Latin American Nikkeijin in Japan.1. Post-Colonial and Ethnic Migration and Political Incorporation in Liberal Democracies: Locating the Dutch and Japanese Cases 2. Convergence? Globalization and the State Policies in the Production of Post-Colonial Citizen and Ethnic Migration 3. Old and New Nationalisms, Pre-migration Political Legacies 4. What Does Post-Colonial Dutch Citizenship Mean in Political Terms? 1985-2008 5. Constructing the Nation: Japanese Emigration and Immigration from the late 19th to 21st Century 6. Is Blood Thicker than Water Politically? Latin American Nikkeijin in Japan 1990-2008 7. Political Transnationalism in Question: What Limits the Political Transnationalism of 'Transnational' Groups in Liberal Democracies 1985-2008? 8. Conclusion- Inheriting the State: Contextualizing the Future of Post-Colonial and Ethnic Migration and Political Inclusion
Michael Sharpe brilliantly weaves together two cases of post-colonial and ethnic migration, Dutch Antilleans in the Netherlands and Nikkeijin from Latin America in Japan. In so doing he sheds new light on the nature of post-colonial and ethnic migrations and diaspora and on the quality of Dutch and Japanese democracy. This is a fascinating book and I highly recommend it. -James F. Hollifield, Southern Methodist University, USA
How do modern democracies deal with migrants that for historical and legal reasons may claim to be part of the nation, but whose 'return' to the metropolis does not respond to the demands of the political opportunity structure, labor market, nor to a postcolonial nostalgia for empire? In a fascinating comparison of Antillean migrants in the Netherlands and Latin American Nikkeijin returneesl3}