ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the editors explore the volume’s main themes and theoretical concerns, focusing on the often unnoticed central place of territory in democracy and diaspora studies. It presents reasons for the need to bring territory out of the shadows in order to see how it is limiting research and critical thinking in the fields of diaspora and democracy. It draws on Deleuze and Guattari’s ideas of deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation to explain the fundamental significance and power of cross-border political activity on processes of democratisation. It explains why modern Ukraine and the activation of its diaspora in relation to the 2013 and 2014 Euromadian revolution provides the perfect case study to probe and test the ideas put forward in this volume regarding the need to unseat the so-called ‘territorial mentality’. It concludes with an overview of the volume’s chapters and potential future research directions.
