Evaluating the Nexus Between Transnational Citizenship and Governance

Robtel Neajai Pailey May 10, 2013Accra, Ghana

9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Governance for Development in Africa

Residential School (GDiA)SOAS/CDD/Mo Ibrahim

Foundation

Citizenship Broadly Defined Legal status of an individual (Baranbantseva

and Sutherland, 2011) System of rights (ie., security, right to own land,

etc. ) Bundle of obligations (ie, paying taxes, obeying

the laws of the land, etc.) Political activity (voting in national and local

elections, etc.) Form of group identity & solidarity (Joppke,

1999; Bosniak, 2000)

Citizenship as ‘bounded’ (state-centric)

Citizenship and identity confined within one national boundary (Miller, Aron, et. al)

Identity boundary maintenance (IR theorists)

Citizenship is the only means by which states retain relevance in the midst of 21st century globalization/internationalization

Citizenship as ‘unbounded’ (transnational) Rapid globalization has already reconfigured

citizenship (Sassen, 2005; Rubenstein & Adler, 2000; Jacobson, 1996; Bauböck, 1994; Turner, et. al, 1993)

‘Flexible Citizenship’--tactical and strategic means of accumulating capital and power, thereby subverting state control (Ong, 1999)

Defining Transnationalism“Being here and there at the same time” (Cano, 2009)

Multiple ties and interactions linking people or institutions across the borders of nation-states (Vertovec, 1999)

Establishing and maintaining socio-cultural connections across geopolitical borders (IOM, 2008)

Practices and relationships that link migrants and their children with the home country, where such practices have significant meaning and are regularly observed (Smith, 2006)

Defining Transnational Citizenship Multiple identities and allegiances

Cross-national and multi-layered memberships to certain societies

Transborder citizens“People who live their lives across the borders of two or

more nation states, participating in the normative regimes, legal and institutional system and political practices of these various states” (Glick Schiller, 2005: 27)

Defining Governance Strengthening state-society relations through

legality, legitimacy, participation UNDP Triad-Legality-Upholding rules of the political system to

solve conflicts between actors and adopt decisions

-Legitimacy-Proper functioning of institutions and their acceptance by the public

-Participation-Efficacy of government and theachievement of consensus by democratic means

Nexus between transnational citizenship and governance ITransnational Citizenship Unsettles (traditional

notions of) Governance Legitimacy/Legality/Participation Moves Beyond

Territorial Borders

Transnational citizens have the tactical experience of how governance functions (well) elsewhere

Transnational citizens force states to be accountable to multiple constituencies

Nexus between transnational citizenship and governance IIGovernance Unsettles TransnationalCitizenship Extraterritorial political participation comes at the

cost of allowing members to make policies to which they are not directly subject (FitzGerald, 2006)

Transnational citizenship requires very little of external citizens, neither paying taxes, nor military service (Spiro, 2012)

Increased claims for dual citizenship in Africa driven by self-serving political interests (Whitaker, 2011)

Nexus between transnational citizenship and governance III Governance forces us to ask two

fundamental questions:

-Is transnational citizenship about ‘being’ (identity), ‘doing’ (practice), both or neither?

-Is (transnational) citizenship about demanding rights, fulfilling obligations, both or neither?