The Dictionary of Human Geography

Comp. by: LElumalai Stage : Revises1 ChapterID: 9781405132879_4_T Date:31/3/09
Time:21:40:54 Filepath://ppdys1108/BlackwellCup/00_Blackwell/00_3B2/Gregory-
9781405132879/appln/3B2/revises/9781405132879_4_T.3d

chemicals) favour geographical concentration.

Progress in automation has reduced the

importance of labour costs in many sectors,

making it feasible to remain in high labour

cost countries. Meanwhile, poorer countries,

besides having very restricted markets, also

have poor physical and institutional infra-

structures, which makes operations both

more costly and riskier. Although usually

seen to be in the vanguard ofglobalization,

there are reasons to suppose that TNCs are

hedging their bets. Their operations are cer-

tainly international, but they are not quite

global as yet.

TNCs are the permanent object of heated

political debate. Some believe that they will

fostereconomic growthandmodernization

in the developing world by importing capital,

technology and managerial techniques that

will then filter out into the host economy.

stages of growththeorists see TNCs as the

perfect vehicle for overcoming barriers tode-

velopmentand promotingregional conver-

gence. Others believe they are responsible for

‘underdeveloping’ the Third World by domin-

ating local markets and draining capital in the

form of profits fromsouthto North – in short,

that they are the modern form ofimperialism

and a major factor promotingdependency

anduneven development. Many see them as

responsible for the deindustrialization of

formerly prosperous regions (Tabb, 2002;

Cuyvers and DeBeule, 2005). TNCs have

been charged with collaborating with oppres-

sive governments in order to ensure access to

resources and therefore being implicated in the

violation ofhuman rightsand ofviolence

against local populations (Peluso and Watts,

2001; Frynas and Pegg, 2003). Their presence

raises questions of sovereignty and the integ-

rity of thenation-state even in the most

developed countries (Dicken, 2003). esch

Suggested reading

Dicken (2003); Harvey (1999 [1982]); Peck and

Yeung (2003).

transnationalism A concept that describes a

movement or set of linkages that occuracross

nationalborders. Transnationalism is a rela-

tively new term, and its growing popularity

indicates the heightened interconnectivity of

people and things that now flow across bor-

ders andboundariesin greater volume and

with greater speed than ever before. While

closely linked to the processes of economic

globalization, which are often conceptual-

ized in abstract global terms and decentred

spaces, transnationalism is generally invoked

to express transcendence of the specific work-

ings of the nation-state (Kearney, 1995).

It is thus used most widely in the social

sciences to describe phenomena in which

the cultural or territorial boundaries of the

nationand/or the regulatory apparatuses of

the stateare crossed or contested in new

kinds of ways.

While this notion of crossing boundaries is

pertinent to many cross-border articulations,

including the circulation ofcommoditiesand

the flows of culture and ideas (e.g. Jackson,

Crang and Dwyer, 2004), the contemporary

movement of migrants is most frequently as-

sociated with the term. Unlike earlier theories

ofmigration, which generally characterized

movement across borders as either perman-

ent rupture followed by assimilation in a new

society, or as temporary sojourning followed

by a return home, transnationalism describes

a migration pattern of simultaneous connec-

tion to two or more nations (Basch, Glick

Schiller and Blanc, 1995). In numerous case

studies, migrants have been shown to con-

struct an intricate, multi-webbed network

of ongoing social relations that span their

country of origin and their country (or coun-

tries) of settlement. While a pattern of trans-

national life has been present in past

migrations to varying degrees, the new trans-

portation, communication and computing

technologies of the past few decades have

greatly facilitated such arrangements in the

contemporary era.

In addition to technological advances, many

scholars have associated the growth of this

type of migration pattern with changes in

the nature of globalcapitalism(Ong, 1999).

The organization of production on a world-

wide scale has affected the volume and flow

of migrants across national borders, and led

to a transformed culture and experience of

migration and of the nation. These dynamics

are implicated in the wider boundary-crossing

conceptualization of transnationalism, in

which the significance of national cultural

narratives and the meanings and practices of

state regulations are reconsidered and often

reworked. One of the key signifiers of both

cultural belonging and state control that is

reworked under conditions of contemporary

transnationality is citizenship. The impli-

cations of transnationalism for citizenship

formation are enormous, ranging from ques-

tions of state jurisdiction over borders to

sociocultural considerations ofidentityand

belonging. km

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_T Final Proof page 772 31.3.2009 9:40pm Compositor Name: ARaju

TRANSNATIONALISM