Continuity and Change in Immigration Regimes: An Institutionalist Analysis of Italian Labor Immigration Regulations 1990-2020

This paper applies institutionalist theories to an exploration of continuity and change in the Italian labor immigration regime between 1990 and 2020. It asks why the regime has remained largely unchanged since the 1990s and investigates changes in regulatory settings since 2008. The explanation for the reproduction and inertia of the regime encompasses a logic of appropriateness, institutional functional complementarity and the political weakness of opposition to the status quo. The restrictions placed on labor immigration since 2008 are explained by economic and humanitarian crises and the evolution of migratory flows to Italy, which has provided alternative sources of labor.