The Transnational State

This work in two parts examines the relations between transnational societies and states. The second volume of this work contends that current policies meant to control or enhance transnational flows have led to the emergence of a transnational policy apparatus coined the transnational state. This book proposes an innovative conceptual framework to grasp the transformations of the contemporary state in both sending and receiving countries. It shows how states expand beyond national territorial limits by reaching out to migrants where they are. In response to the migrants' endeavours to circumvent the constrains imposed by selective migration policies, public authorities expand the reach of their control beyond (externalisation), within (internalisation) and at (expansion) borders. A totalitarian temptation seems to have seized contemporary state bureaucracies, affecting the very nature of borders and societies. The core argument of this research is that the development of the transnational state is not random. It is a process shaping and shaped by the structures of the transnational society. Thomas Lacroix is a geographer, CNRS director of research at the Centre for International Research of Sciences Po Paris and a fellow of the Institute Convergence Migrations.