The legacy of a much less mobile epoch, existing mechanisms for controlling the movement of people across international borders, were inadequate to stem the tide; and even where immigration was generally welcome, the vastly increased numbers to be dealt with and their extraordinary diversity surpassed the capacity of the institutions developed earlier to manage the incorporation of newcomers. Under pressure to act more effectively, each of the receiving states was challenged to devise new regulatory mechanisms for controlling admission, not only into the territory but also into the society and the state, conceived as a body politic.
