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How migration transforms citizenship: international, multinational and transnational perspectives

Author / Editor:

Bauböck, Rainer


Citizenship is a status of full and equal membership in a self-governing political community. Relations between such communities can be of three different kinds: international, multinational or transnational. International relations are external ones between independent states; multinational relations are internal ones between different national communities within a larger polity; transnational relations refer to overlapping spheres of sovereignty, membership and political activity between independent polities. Migration across state borders can be interpreted as involving each of these three relations. Seen from an international perspective, migration does not affect the conception of citizenship in the receiving society because migrants` rights depend primarily on their citizenship of origin and on international human rights. Alternatively, migration has been seen as creating new forms of multinational diversity through an export of national cultures from countries of origin to countries of destination. I suggest that the best interpretation of the impact of migration on democratic citizenship is a transnational one that recognizes migrants` overlapping political affiliations and resulting linkages between states. My paper explores policy implications of this perspective for citizenship in receiving and sending states.


Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Forschungsstelle f?r institutionellen Wandel und europ?ische Integration / Austrian Academy of Sciences, Research Unit for Institutional Change and European Integration, Working Paper No. 24, Februar 2002



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