ABSTRACT
Social formations and non-state co-operation across borders have received growing attention since the early 1990s in various fields of the social sciences. In the study of social movements, analysts have coined terms such as 'advocacy networks' to encompass the co-operation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) around the globe in policy areas such as human rights (e.g. Keck and Sikkink, 1998) and the environment. In the mid-1990s the concept of transnational relations also resurfaced in the field of international politics (Risse-Kappen, 1995) Unlike the earlier literature on inter-state interdependencies based on ties arising out of trade and foreign investment, this new wave has sought to establish the outlines of a global civil society. In migration research, authors have begun to study international migration in the context of sometimes dense and continuous transborder linkages between migrants, groups, communities and non-state organisations, alternatively labelled transnational social formations (Smith and Guarnizo, 1998), transnational social fields (Basch et al., 1994) and transnational social spaces (Pries, 2001).
