Until very recently emigrants were considered an embarrassment, an irritation or an irrelevance by most states. The long experience of emigrant engagement in certain historical emigration countries, such as Italy, was very much the exception. Since about 2000, countries around the world have shown much greater enthusiasm for policies to encourage the loyalty of nationals who have made a permanent home elsewhere. These developments have changed the relationship between state institutions and emigrant nationals. Policies of emigrant engagement also challenge fundamental understandings about the nature of political society in the modern era; the notion of states as territorial institutions or the understanding of citizenship as membership in a territorially bounded polity are both undermined. This book provides copious evidence of this process, with detailed, comparable case studies of twelve countries and a new theoretical framework that helps explain changing policies towards emigrants.

Some states have a long history of reaching out to citizens living in other countries but since 2000 it has become much more common for states to encourage loyalty from current or former citizens living abroad. Using detailed case studies, this book sets out to explain this significant development, with an innovative new theoretical framework.