The nomos of mobile commons: towards a nomadic constitution of Europe

ABSTRACT In this paper, I present the mobile commons and migrant commoning as the constituent power of a Europe-to-come. The theoretical basis for the proposed conceptualization comes through a well-known dispute around the concept of the ‘nomos’ that involves Carl Schmitt, on the one hand, and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, on the other. I revisit this argument, and suggest that it expresses a difference between two ways of constituting Europe. The Schmittean line is organized around current policies of enclosures of borders of EUrope. The nomadic line today takes shape in a migrant (auto)nomos that resists enclosures, institutes mobile commons and possibly transgresses the concept of citizenship to the institution of commonship. I draw on contemporary theories of the commons and commoning to develop arguments for a nomadic approach to European belonging. Besides contributing to the debate on mobile commons, the article intervenes in the discussion on the future constitution of Europe in the context of migration.