Restricting access to social protection for immigrants in the Danish welfare state

Abstract

Universal welfare states provide good social protection for immigrants, but are also economically vulnerable to large-scale immigration. Unlike Sweden and Norway, the Danish welfare state has not only introduced strong restrictions on immigration, but also introduced a number of measures that, in principle or in practice, apply differently to Danish citizens and to immigrants. These could be described as welfare state chauvinism – or regarded as necessary measures to protect universalism. However, there are also countervailing tendencies that afford greater inclusion for immigrants in childcare provision, and radical new measures towards making work pay (that have particular salience for immigrants) should probably be seen more as a culmination than as the beginning of more far-reaching institutional change.