Katharina
Natter

Katharina Natter is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Science of Leiden University. She researches migration politics from a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on the role of political regimes in immigration policymaking, and has conducted extensive field research in Morocco and Tunisia. Katharina’s work seeks to connect migration policy theory with broader social science research on modern statehood and political change. She also hopes to contribute to the wider...

Migration Reasearch Hub ID: 1260
ORCID	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-0567

Expertise

Methods

Geographies

Scope
UN Countries
- Morocco
- Tunisia

Roles

University of Leiden

University, Leiden, Netherlands
Assistant Professor

Research

Why Has Migration Research So Little Impact? Examining Knowledge Practices in Migration Policy Making and Migration Studies

Authors	Katharina Natter, Natalie Welfens
Year	2024
Journal Name	International Migration Review
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1 Journal Article

Embracing complexity in ‘Southern’ migration governance

Authors	Lorena Gazzotti, Melissa Mouthaan, Katharina Natter
Year	2023
Journal Name	Territory, Politics, Governance
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2 Journal Article

Ad-hocratic immigration governance: how states secure their power over immigration through intentional ambiguity

Authors	Katharina Natter
Year	2023
Journal Name	Territory, Politics, Governance

3 Journal Article

Open Access: Tunisia's migration politics throughout the 2011 revolution: revisiting the democratisation–migrant rights nexus

Authors	Katharina Natter
Year	2023
Book Title	Migration Politics across the World

4 Book Chapter

The il/liberal paradox: conceptualising immigration policy trade-offs across the democracy/autocracy divide

Authors	Katharina Natter
Year	2023
Journal Name	Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
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5 Journal Article

Introduction

Authors	Katharina Natter, Hélène Thiollet
Year	2023
Book Title	Migration Politics across the World

6 Book Chapter

Theorising migration politics: do political regimes matter?

Authors	Katharina Natter, Hélène Thiollet
Year	2022
Journal Name	Third World Quarterly

7 Journal Article

Tunisia’s migration politics throughout the 2011 revolution: revisiting the democratisation–migrant rights nexus

Authors	Katharina Natter
Year	2022
Journal Name	Third World Quarterly

8 Journal Article

Dini, Sabine and Giusa, Caterina (2020) Externalising Migration Governance Through Civil Society. Palgrave MacMillan, Cham, CH, 94p.

Authors	Katharina Natter
Year	2021
Journal Name	International Migration
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9 Journal Article

Crafting a ‘liberal monarchy’: regime consolidation and immigration policy reform in Morocco

Authors	Katharina Natter
Year	2021
Journal Name	The Journal of North African Studies
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10 Journal Article

Political party ideology and immigration policy reform: an empirical enquiry

Authors	Katharina Natter, Mathias Czaika, Hein de Haas
Year	2020
Journal Name	Political Research Exchange
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11 Journal Article

Key Knowledge Questions on Migration Drivers

Authors	Katharina Natter
Year	2020
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12 Policy Brief

International Migration: Trends, Determinants, and Policy Effects

Authors	Hein de Haas, Mathias Czaika, Marie‐Laurence Flahaux, ...
Year	2019
Journal Name	Population and Development Review
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13 Journal Article

Growing Restrictiveness or Changing Selection? The Nature and Evolution of Migration Policies1

Authors	Hein de Haas, Simona Vezzoli
Year	2018
Journal Name	International Migration Review
Citations (WoS)	26
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14 Journal Article

Rethinking immigration policy theory beyond ‘Western liberal democracies’

Authors	Katharina Natter
Year	2018
Journal Name	Comparative Migration Studies
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15 Journal Article

International Migration: Trends, Determinants and Policy Effects

Year	2018
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16 Working Paper

Conceptualizing and measuring migration policy change

Authors	Hein de Haas, Katharina Natter, Simona Vezzoli
Year	2015
Journal Name	Comparative Migration Studies
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17 Journal Article

The Formation of Morocco's Policy Towards Irregular Migration (2000–2007): Political Rationale and Policy Processes

Authors	Katharina Natter
Year	2013
Journal Name	International Migration
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18 Journal Article

Determinants of International Migration: A Theoretical and Empirical Assessment of Policy, Origin and Destination Effects (DEMIG - POLICY)

Description	DEMIG POLICY tracks more than 6,500 migration policy changes enacted by 45 countries around the world mostly in the 1945-2013 period. The policy measures are coded according to the policy area and migrant group targeted, as well as the change in restrictiveness they introduce in the existing legal system. The database allows for both quantitative and qualitative research on the long-term evolution and effectiveness of migration policies. DEMIG POLICY was compiled between 2010 and 2014 as part of the DEMIG project (Determinants of International Migration: A Theoretical and Empirical Assessment of Policy, Origin and Destination Effects). It tracks 6,500 migration policy changes (both immigration and emigration) in 45 countries, most of them enacted in the 1945-2013 period. DEMIG POLICY assesses for each policy measure whether it represents a change towards more restrictiveness (coded +1) or less restrictiveness (coded -1) within the existing legal system. Besides this main assessment of change in restrictiveness, every policy change is also coded according to the policy area (border control, legal entry, integration, exit), policy tool (recruitment agreements, work permit, expulsion, quota, regularization, resettlement, carrier sanctions, etc.), migrant group (low- and high-skilled workers, family members, refugees, irregular migrants, students etc.) and migrant origin (all foreign nationalities, EU citizens, specific nationalities etc.) targeted. The database has been compiled by the DEMIG team, in particular by Katharina Natter, Simona Vezzoli and Hein de Haas, and reviewed by national migration policy experts. Read More
Year	2013
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19 Data Set

The determinants of international migration: A theoretical and empirical assessment of policy, origin and destination effects

Description	The main question of this research project is: how do migration policies of receiving and sending states affect the size, direction and nature of international migration to wealthy countries? The effectiveness of migration policies has been widely contested in the face of their apparent failure to steer immigration and their many unintended, perverse effects. Due to fundamental conceptual and methodological flaws, most empirical evidence has remained largely descriptive and biased by omitting crucial sending country and policy variables. This project answers this question by embedding the systematic empirical analysis of policy effects into a comprehensive theoretical framework of the macro and meso-level forces driving international migration to and from wealthy countries. This is achieved by linking separately evolved migration theories focusing on either sending or receiving countries and integrating them with theories on the internal dynamics of migration processes. A systematic review and categorisation of receiving and sending country migration policies will provide an improved operationalisation of policy variables. Subsequently, this framework will be subjected to quantitative empirical tests drawing on gross and bilateral (country-to-country) migration flow data, with a particular focus on Europe. Methodologically, this project is groundbreaking by introducing a longitudinal, double comparative approach by studying migration flows of multiple origin groups to multiple destination countries. This design enables a unique, simultaneous analysis of origin and destination country, network and policy effects. Theoretically, this research project is innovative by going beyond simple push-pull and equilibrium models and linking sending and receiving side, and economic and non-economic migration theory. This project is policy-relevant by improving insight in the way policies shape migration processes in their interaction with other migration determinants Read More
Year	2010
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20 Project

DEMIG: The determinants of international migration: A theoretical and empirical assessment of policy, origin and destination effects

Description	The main question of this research project is: how do migration policies of receiving and sending states affect the size, direction and nature of international migration to wealthy countries? The effectiveness of migration policies has been widely contested in the face of their apparent failure to steer immigration and their many unintended, perverse effects. Due to fundamental conceptual and methodological flaws, most empirical evidence has remained largely descriptive and biased by omitting crucial sending country and policy variables. This project answers this question by embedding the systematic empirical analysis of policy effects into a comprehensive theoretical framework of the macro and meso-level forces driving international migration to and from wealthy countries. This is achieved by linking separately evolved migration theories focusing on either sending or receiving countries and integrating them with theories on the internal dynamics of migration processes. A systematic review and categorisation of receiving and sending country migration policies will provide an improved operationalisation of policy variables. Subsequently, this framework will be subjected to quantitative empirical tests drawing on gross and bilateral (country-to-country) migration flow data, with a particular focus on Europe. Methodologically, this project is groundbreaking by introducing a longitudinal, double comparative approach by studying migration flows of multiple origin groups to multiple destination countries. This design enables a unique, simultaneous analysis of origin and destination country, network and policy effects. Theoretically, this research project is innovative by going beyond simple push-pull and equilibrium models and linking sending and receiving side, and economic and non-economic migration theory. This project is policy-relevant by improving insight in the way policies shape migration processes in their interaction with other migration determinants Read More
Year	2010
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21 Project

Determinants of International Migration (DEMIG) C2C (country-to-country)

Description	Data on migration policy changes, migration and emigration flows and bilateral migration flows. DEMIG C2C: (country-to-country) database contains bilateral migration flow data for 34 reporting countries and from up to 236 countries over the 1946–2011 period. It includes data for inflows, outflows and net flows, respectively for citizens, foreigners and/or citizens and foreigners combined, depending on the reporting countries. The DEMIG C2C database was compiled through extensive data collection and digitalisation of historical national statistics as well as current electronic sources. It provides a unique opportunity to construct migration flows from many origin countries to the 34 reporting countries, as well as return flows.
Year	1946
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