Refugees

Abstract

This definition is meant to intervene in the globalized conversation on the nature of the nation state. Whether in political theory, the social sciences, or law, this conversation has already internalized processes which, during the 20th century, have turned the Earth into one political unit.1 Numerous commentators have repeatedly declared the death of the nation state. This political formation, a relatively new one, the advent of which can be traced to the 19th century, has ostensibly been replaced by global mechanisms of governance and force. Whether characterized by global financial or labor markets, intergovernmental organizations such as the EU, or activities of NGOs, such mechanisms fundamentally transform basic political categories such as citizenship.