The transboundary formations discussed in this volume involve a broad array of activities and practices. They range from the transmission of ideas and commodities to the signing of international agreements and the deployment of armies. An increasing number of scholars outside International Relations in a variety of fields and disciplines the world over are making such phenomena central to their research. The breadth involved is impressive enough to make one wonder whether the identification of overall structures among such phenomena is a hopeless task.

The reason to bother with this task is not to rein in interests and analysis that have become too diffuse and scattered. Rather, it is to see whether common analytical languages can be forged which might help draw connections among the many lines of analysis emerging from an increasingly varied range of fields. Opportunities will be missed if the study of transboundary forces becomes entrenched in analytical ghettos populated by discrete sets of phenomena – ranging from transnational relations and global cultural flows to regional integration.

One starting point for thinking about structure is to focus on the ways in which intersecting fields of international, global, or transnational forces directly bump up against seemingly concrete political and social life “on the ground.” This life can include the well-known social forms of the state and the market. It can also include, as the authors in this volume show, the ethnic group, social movement, militia, political party, town, and village.