Fragile Transnationalism: Rethinking Migrant Transnationalism for a Post-Neoliberal World

Abstract

In this article, we develop the concept of fragile transnationalism to conceptualize the re-infrastructuring of migrant transnationalism under conditions of post-neoliberal globalization. Since the 2008 Great Recession, the world has witnessed the demise of neoliberal globalization, amid an ongoing political, socioeconomic, and environmental polycrisis, and the consequent emergence of a post-neoliberal world order. We argue that the attendant fragmentation of global political order, the resurgence of authoritarian nationalism worldwide, and the societal implications of climate change and emergencies have reconfigured the basic conditions for migrant transnationalism. Our analysis points to a far-reaching reassertion of the nation-state in migration governance. In response, we retheorize migration infrastructure as a conceptual lens for analyzing migrant transnationalism. We reveal how an assemblage of weak infrastructures, particularly the fragility within and between its constituent components, has reshaped the logic, practice, and experiences of transnational migration and lives.