ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a case for a relational understanding of transnational agency that takes up new insights and developments of transnational studies and network theory and that is able to connect the variety of cross-border activities, namely migration, movements, and social support. It presents transnational processes and developments in and across various regions of the globe. Transnationalism is a key term that is used in different disciplines with different objectives. One of the most cited starting points is migration studies, in which pivotal scholars such as Nina Glick Schiller, Roger Rouse, Alejandro Portes, and others have realized that migration is not a one-way street, but migrants do connect home and host country for longer periods of time by border-crossing activities. The chapter focuses on the agency of networks of actors who are affected by or involved in transnational and global processes and who aim to influence these cross-border developments by creating social networks across national boundaries.
