Beyond his misreading of the postnational argument, I also find the evidence, and the conclusions on the basis of this evidence, that Koopmans provides to refute the postnational argument highly wanting. I will raise only the two most problematic points.
Regarding the operationalization of ‘migrant rights’: In his analysis of both the MIPEX data and his own (Koopmans, Michalowski and Waibel 2012), Koopmans does not differentiate among entry regulations (immigration and asylum policy); access to naturalization (legal status); civic, political, and social rights (citizenship rights in T.H. Marshall's classification); and targeted integration provisions (e.g. language support for newly arrived migrant children in schools). These are certainly not the same conceptual and institutional constructs and are likely to have different determinants and trajectory over time. Some are more receptive to human rights frameworks, others come to conflict more intensely with sovereignty principles (Soysal 1994). One would expect stricter regulation of entry in times of economic contraction and in relation to ‘national security’ but it might be difficult to deny the right to schooling to migrant children once in the country even in times of economic downturn.
Regarding the evidence and conclusions: On the basis of the MIPEX 2010 data, Koopmans concludes that rather than European convergence what we are observing is ‘the persistence of shared institutional and cultural patterns among kin nations’. He does not elaborate, so it is not clear what the underlying ‘cultural’ argument is regarding kin nations. Regardless, his evidence fails to support the conclusion. According to the MIPEX data Koopmans cites, in terms of the generosity of integration policies, Denmark is closer to Switzerland and Austria (only 10 points above Switzerland and 11 above Austria) than its so-called kin nation Sweden (30 points below), and the difference between the other two kin nations Norway and Sweden is 17 points (2012: 25). The strong correlation Koopmans (2012: 27) finds between country scores in 1980 and 2001 (path-dependency) does not necessarily contradict the postnational argument either, as I already pointed out above.
