Abstract:
This thesis adopts and assesses the Policy Regime Model developed by Carter A. Wilson as a framework for explaining the politics of immigration policy changes in Canada by 1976 and New Zealand by 1987, specifically the removal of racial criteria, and posits that applying the model yields a useful and theoretically valid method for explaining the policy changes. In order to assess the model's usefulness, this thesis analyses the politics of immigration policy change in light of the model's component concepts. Wilson's model posits that policy regimes consist of four elements: an existing policy, a power arrangement, a policy paradigm, and a particular organisation of government, and that policies change when regimes undergo five stages of regime shift: 1) stressors, 2) paradigm shifts, 3) appearance of legitimacy crises, 4) power shifts, and 5) organisational adjustments. To support the qualitative-historical sections that constitute the bulk of the thesis, official documents, academic journals, and unpublished masters and doctoral theses were consulted. Computer applications were used to store, code and analyse the data in accordance with the model's boundaries. Challenges in this research included deciding which periods to examine and coding the data gathered in accordance with the elements of the model, not all of which Wilson specified precisely in operational terms. Furthermore, accessing all information pertinent to immigration policy history proved difficult due to time constraints, limited financial resources and restrictions on some government documents. Nonetheless, sufficient information was assembled to provide confidence that application of the model was useful in structuring an information-rich analysis of immigration policy change, thus achieving the objectives of this thesis. Findings in this thesis support the model's propositions, and conclude that the model could be used to explain the politics of Canadian and New Zealand policy shifts in immigration or other areas, as well as changes of policy in other polities. This thesis closes with recommendations for future academic inquiry, including testing the model as a predictive tool in a single polity or comparing policy changes in several polities, and suggests that future academic researchers may adopt, adapt, and employ Wilson's Policy Regime Model with confidence.
