Institutionalising transnationalism: The national welfare system’s encounter with people who lead transnational lives

The dissertation examines the friction between the sedentary, national design of the Norwegian welfare state and the increasing prevalence of transnational living. Through interviews with 39 bureaucrats, the author finds that while transnationalism is viewed as a 'new norm' and approached with general inclusivity, there is significant institutional uncertainty and a lack of a coherent national policy. The study highlights how bureaucrats use a mix of formal and informal categories to manage complexity and how the system adapts through a combination of individual bureaucratic entrepreneurship and top-down restructuring that seeks to mainstream transnational work into national structures.

• Bureaucrats within the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) generally perceive transnational living and cross-border mobility as a 'new norm' that applies to all segments of the population, rather than being limited to specific migrant groups.
• There is a notable tension between the bureaucrats' stated desire to avoid overgeneralisation and their frequent use of a wide array of formal, informal, and stereotypical labels to categorise transnational clients.
• Bureaucrats perceive that a transnational individual's ability to reconcile their mobility with national social security entitlements is primarily shaped by their level of regulatory awareness and their willingness to comply with complex regulations.
• Bureaucratic discourse categorises the behaviour of transnational clients into three types: planned, informed, or unaware 'abuse or use' of the system, which in turn influences the level of control and the type of advice provided by caseworkers.
• The Norwegian social security system adapts to transnationalism differently across organisational scales: micro-scale adaptations are often informal and based on individual specialisation, meso-scale adaptations involve some formal ICT solutions, and macro-scale adaptations are often disconnected from day-to-day bureaucratic realities.
• The Norwegian welfare system is currently shifting its approach to transnationalism from a model of specialisation (e.g., dedicated units like NAV International) toward 'mainstreaming' these practices into nationally oriented structures.
• The number of individuals receiving Norwegian pensions abroad has grown significantly, increasing from 1,000 in 1978 to nearly 60,000 in 2018.

APA

Talleraas, C. (2019). Institutionalising transnationalism: The national welfare system’s encounter with people who lead transnational lives. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/35eda9c0-a556-4486-9ece-81bd0f8ec3ec/Institutionalising transnationalism- The national welfare systems encounter with people who lead transnational lives.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Talleraas, Cathrine. Institutionalising transnationalism: The national welfare system’s encounter with people who lead transnational lives. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2019. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/35eda9c0-a556-4486-9ece-81bd0f8ec3ec/Institutionalising transnationalism- The national welfare systems encounter with people who lead transnational lives.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Talleraas |first1=Cathrine |title=Institutionalising transnationalism: The national welfare system’s encounter with people who lead transnational lives |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2019 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/35eda9c0-a556-4486-9ece-81bd0f8ec3ec/Institutionalising transnationalism- The national welfare systems encounter with people who lead transnational lives.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{talleraas2019institutionalising, author = {Talleraas, Cathrine}, title = {{Institutionalising transnationalism: The national welfare system’s encounter with people who lead transnational lives}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2019}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/35eda9c0-a556-4486-9ece-81bd0f8ec3ec/Institutionalising transnationalism- The national welfare systems encounter with people who lead transnational lives.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }