Citizenship Beyond Borders: New Forms of Emigration Governance, Political Participation and Diaspora Engagement

The relationship between citizenship, mobility, and the state is undergoing profound transformation. As emigration becomes a long-term structural feature of many societies, states are developing new policies to engage citizens abroad, while emigrants themselves are reshaping political participation across borders through electoral mobilization, advocacy, digital activism, and transnational networks. Diasporas are increasingly recognized not only as economic actors but also as political stakeholders, agents of democratic change, and participants in public life in both countries of origin and residence.
The objective of this panel is twofold. First, it seeks to examine the emergence of new forms of emigration governance and diaspora engagement developed by states, international organizations, local authorities, and civil society actors. Second, it explores how emigrants and diasporas are transforming political participation beyond national borders through both institutional and non-institutional forms of engagement.
The panel adopts a broad understanding of citizenship as encompassing both belonging and participation. Citizenship extends beyond legal status to include identities, practices, rights, responsibilities, and political agency exercised across borders. This perspective opens new avenues for analysing how mobility is reshaping democratic participation, contestation, representation, and state - citizen relations in an increasingly interconnected yet politically fragmented world.
We particularly welcome papers examining:
• New actors in emigration governance, including states, local governments, international organizations, NGOs, diaspora organizations, and digital platforms;
• Emerging emigration and diaspora policies, including external citizenship, voting rights, dual citizenship, return policies, talent attraction, and diaspora strategies;
• New forms of diaspora engagement in public policy, development, and democratic governance;
• Political participation of emigrants, including electoral participation, representation, lobbying, and transnational political networks;
• Diaspora participation in protests, social movements, and contestatory citizenship across borders;
• Digital technologies and social media as spaces for transnational political mobilization and civic engagement;
• Comparative perspectives on emigration governance and diaspora politics across regions;
• Theoretical approaches to citizenship beyond borders, transnational citizenship, political belonging, and democratic innovation.
The panel welcomes conceptual, comparative, and empirically grounded contributions.