Transnational participation and citizenship: immigrants in the European Union

Abstract

This paper examines the transnational organisation of immigrants settled in different European countries. It analyses - based on empirical evidence – the multiple interactions between transnational networks, nation-states and supranational institutions and their role in the emergence of a European space. It questions (1) the role of transnational participation in defining a transnational solidarity, (2) its role in defining a European identity and citizenship and (3) the relationship between transnationalism and the nation-states. I argue that transnational organisations do not lead to the erosion of the nation-state, but to a redefinition of its political structure and of the balance between nation and state, where the state is considered as the driving force behind the construction of global structures and the nation as a source for mobilisation.