Treaties, Trade and Networks

In the course of globalisation, the costs of migration have decreased and the social spaces between countries have narrowed. In this process of “deterritorialisation”, the concept of “nation” is increasingly decoupled from the “state”, while the notion of the market has gained momentum. The movement of people across borders and the push and pull factors motivating such mobility cannot be adequately understood from the perspective of a single social science. Drawing on sociology, we ask to what extent the state has strengthened the transnational networks, which migrants, individually and collectively have been establishing. The role of diaspora networks, which sociologists have been studying, is compared to the functionality of migration agreements. Underlying these specific research questions will be the foundational dichotomy between the role of the state, as the initiator of agreements in the field of migration and the role of transnational communities, which may stabilise or fragment state sovereignty in these areas. The sociologists will inform the lawyers whether and how the state can be “brought back” into the investment, trade and communication networks, which migrants have been establishing across borders.