(Im)mobility as Ontological Security Work in Frontline-but-not-at-War Contexts

This conceptual paper advances the aspirations–capability model to understand (im)mobility and explore how risk perception reshapes (im)mobility across national and diasporic spaces in frontline-but-not-at-war contexts, modelling the case of Latvia. We offer a theory-driven discussion of (in)voluntary (im)mobility under ongoing geopolitical insecurity, and a novel conceptualisation of staying and moving as future-oriented strategies to ensure ontological security. By moving beyond crisis-driven displacement and focusing on anticipatory and strategic (im)mobility, the paper offers a conceptualisation for understanding of how people live with uncertainty and how voluntary immobility could emerge as a meaningful form of agency. By integrating multiple existing theories, the paper lays the conceptual groundwork for subsequent empirical research and provides an open framework that invites application and comparison across contexts.