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Over the past two decades, the theoretical frameworks of human mobility studies have undergone profound changes. The rise of transnational and border analysis, the formulation of the embodied experiences of migration, the increasing interest in migrants' attachment to place and sense of home have coalesced to enrich our understanding of human mobility. This paper explores how Romanian immigrants in Spain interpret the changes to their global identity in terms of self-perceptions within the context of the enlargement of the European Union (EU) towards Eastern Europe. By means of qualitative research, the principal aim of this article is to highlight how the migration process, which is closely tied to border dynamics and European expansion, and which has occurred in stages from 1990 to the present, has influenced the (re)construction of identity and the changes in discourse among immigrants. The experiences of the interviewees show that migration/mobility and place – that left behind in the country of origin and the new place in the receiving country – are essential factors in the reconstruction of identity in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current discourse it is frequently stated that in the course of European integration and globalisation we witness more intensified and more frequent transactions spanning across national borders. These assumptions relate not only to transactions in the economic sphere or to forms of political co-operation, but to the individual lifeworlds as well. Yet concerning the latter dimension, research into the patterns and dynamics of interpersonal interaction, relationships, and forms of mobility across national borders is scarce. This paper is a contribution towards filling this research lacuna. It addresses the question of the extent to which horizontal Europeanisation, understood as different forms of individual cross-border activities within the European Union, depends on characteristics at the country level. From a comparative perspective we will analyse the transnational mobility and cross-border networks of European citizens within a European context. Empirically, we refer to data from the Eurobarometer 65.1 (2006), which allows us to answer the question how certain contextual variables, such as internationalisation, modernisation, and characteristics such as the respective country's geography, affect people's participation in cross-border activities. Based on a sample of 25 European countries, we will demonstrate that geographic characteristics drive social transnationalism less than internationalisation, Europeanisation, and modernisation, which contribute to a proliferation of individual transnational activities across the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual mobility within the European Union has remained rather low, in spite of large socio-economical differences and the lack of political restrictions for citizens of member states. Taking this as a starting point, this paper sets out to develop a more appropriate view by combing aspects of economic and sociological migration theories both at the macro and micro levels. For this purpose, the Eurobarometer survey 54.2 of 2001 is analysed by applying a three-level regression. Therefore, different characteristics of 15 European countries, 196 nuts-2-regions and about 7,000 respondents aged younger than 45 years are considered. Analyses show that the assumption of push-and-pull models – namely, that people leave less developed places – applies only within countries. In fact, the highest migration intentions can be observed in regions with a developmental gap compared to the overall level of a country. But between countries, the effect is quite the opposite – the highest intentions can be found in highly developed countries. However, the explanatory power of macro-level variables is rather low compared to that of individual characteristics. Therefore, research should place more emphasis on individual characteristics, to estimate a migration potential more accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]