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’ varied significantly both between and within the study communities. As has been found among other studies, ethnicity, class, gender and age can all be important variables. Arguably, however, what makes the findings among refugees different from those among most other migrants is that the host state impacted on their transnational capabilities in a very direct manner. One reason, for example, that less evidence for these capabilities was found among Bosnians than Eritreans was that many more of the former group among the respondents did not yet have secure legal status in their host country.

Refugees, Transnationalism and the State 难民，跨国和国家

Before discussing the implications of the preceding findings for understanding the interactions between refugees, transnationalism and the state, a few reservations need to be posted. First, it will have become clear that the findings here have all emerged from relatively small-scale studies. It follows that they cannot be used to generalise even about the specific study communities, much less about forced migrants more generally. Between them the studies do, nevertheless, cover a diverse range of ethnic and national groups*Bosnians, Kosovans, Iranians and Eritreans*and have been sensitive to individual variations on the basis of gender, age, class, education and legal status. Second, throughout this article the concept of transnationalism has been interpreted rather broadly. Certainly a reasonable criticism would be that it has taken us no further in actually defining the concept, although as is explained later it might be argued to have at least provided fresh insights. Finally, the studies have focused almost exclusively on receiving states in Europe, which in certain respects differ from elsewhere in the industrialised world, and of course have broadly different engagements with transnationalism from sending states. On the other hand, these studies do at least provide a counterweight to the mass of transnationalism studies that have taken place in the North American context, and do begin to open the way for comparative analysis. New Perspectives on Transnationalism? What can the preceding analysis tell us about the interactions between refugees and transnationalism? First, it provides empirical support for the conceptual assertions
248 K. Koser earlier in this article that there is no clear reason why forced migrants should be excluded or ‘exceptionalised’ in the study of transnationalism. Refugees are defined and supposedly protected by a set of laws, norms and institutions that clearly comprise a transnational layer of governance. It has also been asserted that asylum-seekers, at least in the European context, are increasingly embedded in transnational smuggling networks *they may even comprise the largest single category of people currently being smuggled and trafficked worldwide. And it has been demonstrated that forced migrants, just like labour migrants, can develop transnational identities and undertake transnational activities. At a more conceptual level, forced migration provides a fresh empirical context in which to study transnationalism, and can contribute to further refinements of the concept. The findings from the various research projects summarised in this article reinforce a number of critical perspectives on transnationalism. None of the processes described above, for example, are necessarily ‘new’. The international refugee reg