Paper Titles & Abstracts

The Roma are increasingly seen as a group that challenges the principle of territorial democracy and the Westphalian international order. While diverse in customs, languages, church affiliations, and citizenship, the Roma can also be seen as members of a non-territorial nation. One international non-governmental organization, the International Romani Union, advanced claims for the recognition of the non-territorial Romani nation and advocated a general vision in which people are no longer represented on the basis of state. The manifesto "Declaration of Nation" claims that the Roma have survived for several centuries as distinct individuals and groups with a strong identity without creating a nation-state, so therefore, their example could help humanity find an alternative way to satisfy the need for identity without having to lock it to territorial boundaries. The paper studies theories of post-national citizenship in the light of the case of Roma. What are the empirical preconditions of the transcendence of liberal nationhood? Under what circumstances can claims of post-national citizenship be justified? To what extent do transnational social, religious, and ethnic movements challenge the foundations of the so-called Westphalian international order, in particular the trinity of state-nation-territory? What forms of political participation do they claim? Do transnational nations pose a different challenge to normative political theory than other transnational communities?Many developments challenge state-centric liberal, multicultural and nationalist theories alike. The paper discusses five potential ways cosmopolitan theories may respond to such challenges.