Conflicts between family strategies and state policy in a global society

The mismatch in scale between the coping strategies and resources of family units and their kinship connections and the scope of state policy, interna tional economic and political institutions and access to mobility has often led to seeing the individual and family as a dependent variable in scienti fic studies of ethnicity and migration. The relationships between families and nation-states in the issue of immigr ation is one in which it would seem that the dominant influence would flow from the state to the family. The nation-state is challenged not only by th ose who would immigrate, but also by the larger world systems of economic a nd social change. While globalization is recognized widely in economic and technological arenas now the global issues are found at the local level. an d are felt by individuals and their families. Four areas of legal regulations are reviewed and discussed in terms of how families deal with them: Travel, Domicile, Economic, and political Policies . In this paper the perspective is turned to look at the individual and his or her families' interactions with the nation-state to advance their own g oals within the context of globalization.