300219 Democracy and Transnationalisation (S) (SoSe 2008)

Democracy has become unbound from the cage of the national state, and has been supplemented, among others, by transnational forms of political membership and participation. In particular, cross-border political activism ¿from below¿ has become a center of attention for studies on social movements, migration, and globalisation & transnationalisation studies more generally. Just think of movements along issues such as human rights, environment, labour, gender and development. Also, migrants have lately been looked upon and emerged as development agents in their own right. They have been seen as transmitters of democracy allegedly travelling from developed to so-called developing countries. In this seminar, we will take a close look at whether categories of both mobile and relatively immobile persons with transnational ties have engaged in cross-border exchange of democratic practices and ideas. We will approach this topic both conceptually and empirically ¿ conceptually by taking a closer look at the literature on both transnational relations and democracy, and empirically by analysing statements by organizations and groups active in this realm.

Bibliography

• Sidney Tarrow. 2001. ¿Transnational Politics.¿ Annual Review of Political Science 4:1-20
• Sidney Tarrow (2005), The New Transnational Activism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Thomas Faist (2008), ¿Migrants as Transnational Development Agents.¿ Population, Space and Place 14, 1: 21-42