The investment citizenship industry: exploring power and legitimacy in global governance

More and more states now sell citizenships to the global elite in return for investments.

This trade is mediated by private actors in the little-known investment citizenship industry, which this proposed project sets out to explore.

The theoretical aim is to construct a framework that can account for the tensions arising when the non-commercial institution citizenship is drawn into market dynamics, with particular focus on the role of intermediary actors.

The empirical aim is to gain new knowledge on the investment citizenship industry, by mapping its actors, roles and processes, and by studying its power and its self-legitimation practices.

The project will be carried out by two experienced researchers: Sara Kalm (project leader) and Magdalena Bexell (participant) assisted by an RA. The empirical work is divided into three work packages, and the substudies use different qualitative methods.

New data will be collected in two fieldworks (Malta, China) in year 1 and 2, three interview trips (London, Geneva, Brussels) in year 1, 2 and 3, and by participant observations at industry conferences in year 2 and 3.The investment citizenship industry is an overlooked topic, that we will explore theoretically and empirically.

Given the dearth of knowledge, this is an important task in its own right.

But the social and scholarly importance is even broader, since the results will inform knowledge on how contemporary de-territorialized global elites are formed and inequalities deepened.