Diaspora Politics


Book Description

This book is intended to fill in a gap in the study of modern ethno-national diasporas. Thus, against the background of current trends - globalization, democratization, the weakening of the nation-state and massive transstate migration, it examines the politics of historical, modern and incipient ethno-national diasporas. It argues that unlike the widely accepted view, ethno-national diasporism and diasporas do not constitute a recent phenomenon. Rather, this is a perennial phenomenon whose roots were in antiquity. Some of the existing diasporas were created in antiquity, some during the Middle Ages and some are modern. An essential aspect of this phenomenon is the endless cultural-social-economic and especially political struggle of these dispersed ethnic groups that permanently reside in host countries away from their homelands to maintain their distinctive identities and connections with their homelands and other dispersed groups of the same nation. While describing and analyzing the diaspora phenomenon, the book sheds light on theoretical questions pertaining to current ethnicity and politics.




Diasporas in the Contemporary World


Book Description

Throughout human history people have moved across national borders. With the advent of globalization, they are now moving in record numbers in search of greater security or better livelihoods. Diasporas have become an ever important and visible presence in the modern world. Their existence has sometimes resulted in violence and ethnic conflict, and on other occasions they have been peacefully assimilated into the culture and citizenship of their chosen country. This comprehensive new book seeks to explain why Diaspora communities are increasing as never before. In an accessible and engaging introduction to the field, Milton Esman looks closely at the difference in the reception of Diaspora communities throughout the world, and the responses of those communities to their new nations. By focusing on ten examples of contemporary Diasporas from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, the book describes and illustrates the problems confronting immigrant communities as they attempt to protect their inherited culture, while coping with the demands and the opportunities they encounter in their adopted country. The book pays particular attention to the types of conflicts that arise from the development of Diaspora communities, and the consequences that these conflicts can have on the international community. This book will be essential reading for students and scholars taking courses in international relations, political sociology, ethnic politics and conflict studies.




Diaspora's Homeland


Book Description

In Diaspora’s Homeland Shelly Chan provides a broad historical study of how the mass migration of more than twenty million Chinese overseas influenced China’s politics, economics, and culture. Chan develops the concept of “diaspora moments”—a series of recurring disjunctions in which migrant temporalities come into tension with local, national, and global ones—to map the multiple historical geographies in which the Chinese homeland and diaspora emerge. Chan describes several distinct moments, including the lifting of the Qing emigration ban in 1893, intellectual debates in the 1920s and 1930s about whether Chinese emigration constituted colonization and whether Confucianism should be the basis for a modern Chinese identity, as well as the intersection of gender, returns, and Communist campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s. Adopting a transnational frame, Chan narrates Chinese history through a reconceptualization of diaspora to show how mass migration helped establish China as a nation-state within a global system.




Democracy, Diaspora, Territory


Book Description

This volume offers a profoundly new interpretation of the impact of modern diasporas on democracy, challenging the orthodox understanding that ties these two concepts to a bounded form of territory. Considering democracy and diaspora through a deterritorialised lens, it takes the post-Euromaidan Ukraine as a central case study to show how modern diasporas are actively involved in shaping democracy from a distance, and through their political activity are becoming increasingly democratised themselves. An examination of how power-sharing democracies function beyond the territorial state, Democracy, Diaspora, Territory: Europe and Cross-Border Politics compels us to reassess what we mean by democracy and diaspora today, and why we need to focus on the deterritorialised dimensions of these phenomena if we are to adequately address the crises confronting numerous democracies. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology and politics with interests in migration and diaspora, political theory, citizenship and democracy.




Diasporas of the Modern Middle East


Book Description

Approaching the Middle East through the lens of Diaspora Studies, the 11 detailed case studies in this volume explore the experiences of different diasporic groups in and of the region, and look at the changing conceptions and practice of diaspora in the




Diaspora and Transnationalism


Book Description

Diaspora & transnationalism are widely used concepts in academic & political discourses. Although originally referring to quite different phenomena, they increasingly overlap today. Such inflation of meanings goes hand in hand with a danger of essentialising collective identities. This book analyses this topic.




Global Diasporas


Book Description

In a perceptive and arresting analysis, Robin Cohen introduces his distinctive approach to the study of the world’s diasporas. This book investigates the changing meanings of the concept and the contemporary diasporic condition, including case studies of Jewish, Armenian, African, Chinese, British, Indian, Lebanese and Caribbean people. The first edition of this book had a major impact on diaspora studies and was the foundational text in an emerging research and teaching field. This second edition extends and clarifies Robin Cohen’s argument, addresses some critiques and outlines new perspectives for the study of diasporas. It has also been made more student-friendly with illustrations, guided readings and suggested essay questions.




Global Diaspora Politics and Social Movements: Emerging Research and Opportunities


Book Description

Global politics has transformed in recent years due to a rise in nationalist ideology, the breakdown of multiple societies, and even nation-state legitimacy. The nation-state, arguably, has been in question for much of the digital age, as citizens become transnational and claim loyalty to many different groups, causes, and in some cases, states. Thus, politics that accompany diasporic communities have become increasingly important focal points of comparative and political science research. Global Diaspora Politics and Social Movements: Emerging Research and Opportunities provides innovative insights into the dispersion of political and social groups across the world through various research methods such as case studies. This publication examines migration politics, security policy, and social movements. It is designed for academicians, policymakers, government officials, researchers, and students, and covers topics centered on the distribution of social groups and political groups.




Diaspora as Cultures of Cooperation


Book Description

This book examines the dynamic processes by which communities establish distinct notions of 'home' and 'belonging'. Focusing on the agency of diasporic groups, rather than (forced or voluntary) dispersion and a continued longing for the country of origin, it analyses how a diaspora presence impacts relations between 'home' and host countries. Its central concern is the specific role that diasporas play in global cooperation, including cases without a successful outcome. Bridging the divide between diaspora studies and international relations, it will appeal to sociologists, scholars of migration, anthropologists and policy-makers.