Introduction

This introductory chapter discusses the concept of the transnational state, which has emerged as a result of the co-evolution of immigrant transnationalism and the transformation of the state in a globalised world. Current research struggles to fully grasp this relationship precisely because immigrant transnationalism has been thought of as a phenomenon ‘outside the state’. It is seen as an autonomous social dynamic, responsive to public policy, but certainly not a product of it. The book emphasises the need to rethink the traditional conceptualisation of the state as a homogeneous entity confined within its territorial boundaries and instead offers a transnationalist reading of the construction of the state. This chapter presents the two main arguments of the book. Firstly, that migration and diaspora policies have led to the formation of the transnational state, that is to say a range of institutions and policies aimed at managing migration-induced transnational flows within and beyond its borders. And secondly, that state transnationalisation is not taking place randomly: it is premised on an isomorphic relation between the transnational society and the transnational state that develops around it. It highlights a paradox, namely that the transnationalisation of the state is occurring not in spite of the sovereign turn of world politics, but because of it, and is largely driven by the will to select transnational flows in accordance with domestic interests.