All over Europe, migrants organise themselves in cultural, political, economic and social contexts. These migrant organisations (MOs) play an important role in incorporating migrants into their societies of arrival. The long-established argument in political sociology was that cultural, ethnic and religious differences between natives and migrants, exclusion from the civil society of the country of arrival and the quality of the migration process (the amount of chain migration) are significant for the formation of ethnically homogenous organisations, which were described as the "classic" cross- border actors.
The absence of active integration policy and the lack of political opportunities were also seen as influential in the orientation of migrants and their organisations towards their countries of origin. Additionally, the crossborder connections of MOs were interpreted as depending on the relevant country of origin's level of support for their citizens abroad. Transnational analysis raises questions about the relation between national policy and the emergence of cross-border organisations.
According to the transnational approach, the development of cross-border (transnational) MOs cannot be explained by analytical factors that focus exclusively on nation-states. In the last two decades, new
social, cultural, economic and political migratory realities have merged that span across countries of arrival and origin. What is evidently required is a transnational analysis that can grasp these current developments in international migration and which can identify the linkages of MOs to their countries of origin. The empirical and theoretical knowledge of the cross-border character of MOs and the embeddedness of these organisations in national and cross- border contexts, however, is fragmented and incomplete.
"Transnational Migrant Organisations -- Rethinking National Policy" aims at attracting papers that focus on conceptual and methodological issues relating to CBMOs. Special attention will be paid to the influence of CBMOs on national strategies of governance and the incorporation of migrants into their countries of arrival and origin. Papers addressing these issues are welcomed, providing scholars, Post-Docs and PhD students the opportunity to participate in the workshop and discuss their research results.
http://www.imis.uni-osnabrueck.de/DGS-Sektion/pdf/cfp/ECPR2010callforpapers.doc Dirk Halm, Stiftung Zentrum for Trkeistudien, Duisburg-Essen University, Altendorfer Str. 3, 45127 Essen
Tel. +49 201 3198 302
Fax + 49 201 3198 333
e-mail:
halm@zft-online.de 
