Diaspora Politics and Post-Territorial Citizenship in Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia

Abstract

How has the conception of the “nation” evolved in the countries of former Yugoslavia? After one of the most brutal civil wars on European soil - a war focused on the acquisition and ethnic cleansing of territories - this key feature of the Westphalian nation-state is going through important transformations. By looking at the citizenship policies of Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia, we argue that a new form of post-territorial citizenship is emerging, centred around the inclusion of “diasporas” and the re-configuration of the nation as “global.” Far from being the expression of a post-national or cosmopolitan conception of belonging, post-territorial citizenship establishes itself as a new principle of inclusion and exclusion based on ethno-cultural categorizations that transcend the traditional, territorial referent.