Migrants, Minorities, Belongings and Citizenship. Glocalization and ...

2. Background of the project
In Glocalmig, one empirical dimension relates to laws, institutions, and policies of
citizenship concerning historical native minorities, second and third country nationals,
and the extra-territorial citizens residing in the Member and Associated States. The
second empirical dimension relates to the new arenas of interaction – i.e. “glocal spaces”
– where extended citizenship rights are exercised. More importantly, as we regard the
glocal spaces as the potential prototypes of future diverse societies, the third empirical
dimension relates to the discovery of the new types of individuals and social/political
behavior, which can constitute the basis of an alternative model of a common, inclusive
civic public space in diverse societies – i.e. Euroglocal spaces. Such an exploratory
research has to be rooted in previous research findings about the historical contexts of
state formation and of the emergences of public spaces.
Our knowledge of political systems confirms that the creation of a common, legitimate
public sphere is one of the most important tools of direct communication between
citizens and states. In European history, the prerequisite for the emergence of such
public spaces has been a successful political consolidation. However, the political history
of Europe also testifies to the fact that integration and consolidation is the most difficult
in territories that are rich, small, and peripheral (Rokkan 1975). Furthermore, peripheral
collective identities have as, a general rule, had a tendency to demarcate their
boundaries against integration attempts with reference to the jus sanguinis model of
citizenship (Sicakkan 1999), as observed in some limited periods the Baltic countries,
Nordic countries, Central and East European countries, and Greece. This poses several
policy challenges pertaining to collaboration, cooperation, and integration (or
consolidation if one will), as well as a challenge to improvements in life conditions of
citizens, i.e. the quality of participation, voice, access, and influence, which is closely tied
to alignments/misalignments between belongings and citizenship. Further, concerning
the historical consolidations of political systems and the relationships between the
consolidating groups and the groups constituting the geographic and/or cultural
peripheries, one of the most important challenges has been the formation of common,
inclusive, and cooperative public spaces.
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