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

The overriding purpose of this research project is to explore the role of private actors in the investment citizenship industry, with particular focus on the power and legitimacy that they claim in global governance. This is an under-researched topic which is important to study in its own right. But the social and scholarly relevance is even broader, since the results will inform knowledge on how contemporary de-territorialized global elites are formed and maintained. 

The background is as follows: More and more states now “sell” citizenships and residence permits to the global economic elite in return for investments. Especially since the 2008 financial crisis, states have come to regard this trade as an important source of foreign investment. A limited number of smaller states sell citizenships in their country directly (eg. Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts & Nevis, Malta). Many major states instead sell residence permits, that after a few years may lead to full citizenship (eg. Australia, Canada, Portugal, UK, USA). Here, we will refer to them jointly as “investment citizenship” programs. For wealthy individuals, buying a citizenship or residence permit can be a way to secure market access, favorable tax regimes, visa-free travel, and/or personal safety in situations of war and conflict as well as natural disasters and pandemics. The project rationale is underpinned by the urgent need to understand how these citizenship practices expand global inequalities. 

In this research project, we focus on an intermediary set of actors, operating between governments and elite buyers: a diverse group that we will refer to jointly as the investment citizenship industry. It is comprised by, for instance, multinational citizenship and residence companies, sections of large transnational law and accounting firms, firms providing service in the sphere of vetting and due diligence, local agents, professional organizations and lobbyists. These actors are involved in all aspects of investment citizenship, and have yet been largely ignored by scholars. 

In this project we want (1) to map and define the industry; (2) to find out what kind of power it exerts; and (3) to study the legitimation challenges it encounters, and the strategies it uses in response.