Role Of Diaspora Research Articles

India-UAE relations: The role of diaspora in shaping diplomatic and economic ties

India-UAE relations: The role of diaspora in shaping diplomatic and economic ties

Sweden, NATO and the role of diasporas in foreign policy

Abstract When and how do diasporas influence the foreign policy of liberal democratic states? Few studies have sought to conceptualize how diasporas affect strategic bilateral relations between states. We argue that these non-state actors are an increasingly important factor in western liberal democratic societies, which challenge traditional theories of foreign policy. To explore when and how the transnational societal ties and interests of diaspora groups affect foreign and security relations between states, we develop a triadic analytical model of state–diaspora interactions and specify key contextual factors. To illustrate the dynamics at play, we analyse the influence of the Kurdish diaspora in Sweden on Turkish–Swedish bilateral relations in the wake of Sweden's decision to apply for full NATO membership. Our case-study builds on semi-structured interviews as well as news media sources, speeches and official documents. The study shows that the Kurdish diaspora demonstrates an independent role and an ability to shape the policy process due to the permeability of the political system. As a result, the policy-process is becoming more domesticated, thereby constraining the role of the executive. The article contributes important insights to policy-makers and diplomats on what impact transnational state–society relations can have on foreign policymaking.

Imagining, Conceiving and Implementing Development: Diaspora Philanthropic Interventions in Post-War Sri Lanka

In the field of migration and development, the role of diasporas has been examined critically because of the political consequences and culturally informed moral norms often attached to their engagement with their country of origin. These shape the nature of their interactions. Drawing on two case studies of diaspora philanthropic interventions in post-war Sri Lanka, this article applies a post-development framework to study the complexities of transnationalism. These cases highlight the complex and uneven relationships between local and diaspora actors, and in doing so illustrate the various kinds of diaspora organizations and their ‘constituencies’. The cases also show that diasporas can have a facilitative effect on local development, but that the process of change is rife with institutional complexities, competing agendas and shifting priorities over time. The article speaks to the need to conceive development as a process, even more so in a post-war context. This requires much time to understand the exact impact of diaspora interventions in any local situation.

The Global Land Rush and Agricultural Investment in Ghana: Existing Knowledge, Gaps, and Future Directions

The large-scale acquisition of land by investors intensified following the 2007/2008 triple crises of food, energy, and finance. In the years that followed, tens of millions of hectares of land were leased or sold for agricultural investment. This phenomenon has resulted in a growing body of scholarship that seeks to explain trends, institutional regimes, impacts, and the variety of actors involved, among other subtopics, such as impacts on food security and livelihoods. Focusing on the case study of Ghana, this paper presents a review that uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to critically assess the state of large-scale land acquisitions for agricultural development in Ghana. Our objective in this review is to provide an overview of what we know about such acquisitions in Ghana while pointing to gaps and directions for future research. Contrary to the perception of large-scale land acquisitions being undertaken by foreign investors, the review shows there is a significant role of Ghanaian investors. Additionally, we found the negative impact of these acquisitions, specifically biofuel projects, which featured predominantly in the literature captured in this study. In addition, the role of traditional authorities (chiefs) was a central focus of studies dedicated to land acquisitions in Ghana. Areas that are either understudied or missing from the literature include conflicts, climate change, biodiversity, corporate social responsibility, gendered social differentiation, ethnicity, and the role of diaspora. These gaps call for future research that examines the land question from a multidimensional and multidisciplinary perspective.

Academic Collaborations in Asia

No country enjoys a monopoly on the production and transaction of knowledge. Academic collaborations among countries and between institutions have increased in recent decades. The reason seems to be that papers co-authored with international academics are not only cited more often but also have higher impact than single author publications. This article shows that although the Asian countries have a tendency to look westward, academic collaborations among higher education institutions in these countries are on the increase. These have evolved in three distinct but related stages: a) collaborations for national capacity development; b) collaborations as part of the globalisation process; and c) collaborations to enhance academic credibility and national institutions’ global ranking. The article also discusses the emergence of new institutional structures to promote regional collaborations and the role of diaspora in promoting research collaborations in the region.

Did COVID-19 Make Me an Afro-Pessimist? A Conversation in Three Parts

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage and disproportionately affect BIPOC, we keep count of the death toll around the world, in the U.S., in our own communities and in our own families. How can we have a “wish to live,” while so many around us die? Does a space exist between fateful (faithful) optimism present in Aretha Franklin’s, “Mary Don’t You Weep?” and the ever-present power structure, that as Reverend Al Sharpton noted, has always had its knee on our necks? More concretely, how do we reconcile what Aisha Durham discusses as “weathering and wounded,” as we sit in the space of being both and not wanting to endure much more. This piece articulates some of the conversations that we have stumbled upon, worked through and raged against from the space of our collective homes and fatigued spirits. It addresses notions of Afro-Pessimism and the intersection of Black Feminist Theory, the role that grief plays in Black Feminist praxis, the role of Diaspora in the historical imagination, and asks the question, “Did COVID and the state-sanctioned killings of Black people make us Afro-Pessimists?”

Dyplomacja publiczna w wybranych dokumentach koncepcyjnych Federacji Rosyjskiej w latach 1991-2016

2020 is the year of publication of a new military doctrine of the Russian Federation. The document will, undoubtedly, be received as an interesting object of analysis, expected to show not only direct intentions, but also the hinking patterns representative for the Russian political elites. It is, therefore, advisable to process the history of public diplomacy – the leading tool of building soft power – a long-standing component of Russian Federation’s capability, which due to the composition of determinants typical for the late-Westphalian international order gained an unprecedented level of meaning (or even can be seen as a leading factor). For these reasons, the author – after adopting a working definition – attempts to retrace the direct and indirect (implied) instances of including public diplomacy into the most important strategic documents and legal acts, issued by Russia in the years 1991-2016. The analysis shows the evolution of Russia’s political elites’ approach to all of the dimensions of public diplomacy (shift from superficial westernisation and a liberal discourse on the international order, through demonstrations of assertiveness, to a narrative adopotion of the role of one of the poles of the new international order), and provides insight into the composition of the political, social end economic determinants behind the transition. Also discussed are the shifts within the specifics of the methods of public diplomacy – such as the perception of the role of diaspora, or the link between image, economic diplomacy and economic development. These changes are presented on the background of the state of the international system, and the analysis is an addition to the extensive literature on the Russian Federation’s informational influence.

Diaspora and Economic Development: A Systemic View.

Recent attempts to generalize isolated successes of expatriate entrepreneurial networks offer limited insight into the more systemic questions on the role of diasporas in sustainable development of small economies. Drawing on experience of post-socialist transition and merging multidisciplinary perspectives, this paper advances a constructive critique to the conventional views. A historically multilayered socioeconomic construct, diaspora is in fact heterogeneous, often, lacking a unified stance and as such likely diminishing the relevance of the simplified first-mover business case study effect in development. Informed by an original survey, this paper proposes a new diaspora driven development framework of analysis. Any successful engagement of a diaspora with its homeland is a function of sustained interaction between the two entities. In the absence of transparent engagement infrastructure, diaspora’s links with a developing economy are short-lived and, usually, sector, event, or location specific. This analysis adds to the literature on the common good dimension in development where individual well-being is a systemic component of a larger outcome rather than the final aim.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41287-021-00432-x.

South Asian Filmscapes: Transregional Encounters ed. by Elora Halim Chowdhury and Esha Niyogi De

Reviewed by: South Asian Filmscapes: Transregional Encounters ed. by Elora Halim Chowdhury and Esha Niyogi De Sushmita Chatterjee (bio) South Asian Filmscapes: Transregional Encounters edited by Elora Halim Chowdhury and Esha Niyogi De. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020, 330 pp., $99.00 hardcover, $35.00 paper. South Asian Filmscapes: Transregional Encounters makes exceptional contributions on varied levels to conversations in film studies, South Asian studies, gender and feminist analyses, and cultural critique. First, the book is a remarkably exemplary edited volume that showcases the magic of collaborative work and its contributions to transregional analyses. The chapters in the volume speak to each other through political borders and violent histories of the region. This shared resonance, attuned to the complexities of remembering histories and working with the complexities of the present moment that frame South Asia, powerfully draws out the significance of filmic archives for telling and re-telling histories. The book is a rare collective event that brings scholarship from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh in conversation as oftentimes these countries are studied in isolation without noting their shared and fractured histories. Second, the book extends the breadth and depth of transnational scholarship through an emphasis on transregional filmscapes. Attentive to the politics of nation formations and attuned to critical entanglements within south-south relations, the book draws out intricate nuances to trajectories of subject formation. In critical distance to a simplistic area studies or comparative approach, the book complicates "transnational" and "South Asia" through nuanced transregional analyses. The third significant contribution of the edited volume is its powerfully evocative turn to politics and poetics that also oftentimes get sidelined in favor of one or the other when studying South Asia from the global north. The editors, Elora Halim Chowdhury and Esha Niyogi De, note, "This edited volume is born out of a collaborative effort to excavate the complex politics and poetics of bordered identity and of crossing" (3). By anchoring "filmic politics" in its involvement with gender, nationality, sexuality, language, religion, and their specific confluences, the volume consistently notes the shifting grounds of identity formation through political turmoil alongside the moving frames of representation (3). In its analysis of political events, the volume does not shy away from the political realities and hierarchies of geographical travel and access to forums and information. The editors and authors share stories about their conference travel obstacles through candid articulations of citizenship status and visa politics. Ironically, these conversations are often missing from transnational analyses even when they seek to grapple with borders and nations. By situating these conversations at the heart of "cinematic archives" through "conflicted landscapes" the book frames cinema in relation to geopolitical reality and discourse formation in an unprecedented unique manner (4, 8). Indeed, [End Page 372] this volume is a much-needed intervention in transnational studies, politics, and its relation to poetics. The edited volume comprises three sections with Part I on "Nations and Regional Margins." In Part I, Fahmidul Haq discusses independent filmmakers in Bangladesh and their negotiation of national identity. Kamran Asdar Ali's chapter discusses Pakistani films from the 1960s and analyzes politics of gender and sexuality. Amit Ranjan's chapter follows with a discussion of Sikh identity in Hindi cinema. Glen Hill and Kabita Chakma discuss cinema in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the hegemonic impositions placed on Bangladesh's Indigenous people. In Nasreen Rehman's chapter we read about film director Hassan Tariq's film Neend and its gender politics. Part II on "Transregional Crossings" begins with Madhuja Mukherjee's chapter on cinematic confluences in the 1920s, among Bombay, Calcutta, and Lahore. The following chapter by Lotte Hoek discerns the traces of East Pakistani Urdu films in Bangladesh's cinematic history. Considering the complexities of representation, Esha Niyogi De's chapter studies action heroines in specific Pakistani films spanning the late 1970s and 1980s. Hariprasad Athanickal's chapter moves us to South Indian cinema and studies the relation of new wave directors to mainstream cinema in the area. Engaging with the role of diaspora in Pakistani Punjabi film, Gwendolyn S. Kirk's chapter analyzes Pakistani Punjabi films to trace an active framing of Punjabi identity. The next chapter by Zebunnisa Hamid studies post...

ВЛИЯНИЕ НА СТРАНЫ ЮВА НОВОГО ИНДОТИХООКЕАНСКОГО РЕГИОНА В КОНТЕКСТЕ КОНКУРЕНЦИИ США, КИТАЯ, ИНДИИ И РОССИИ

The authors show the formation of a new sub-region (Indo-Pacific) instead of the Asia-Pacific region (APR). The initiators of this construct were the United States, Japan, India and Australia in order to confront China and its importance in Northeast and Southeast Asia. The United States also seeks to create a buffer zone between China and the Russian Federation at the expense of India. The article traces the directions and quantitative characteristics of migration flows in Southeast Asia, the role of diasporas in the implementation of the national interests of the countries concerned, and the activities of immigrants and expats in the host countries.

Return Migration and Nation-Building in Africa: Reframing the Somali Diaspora. Routledge

Adele Galipo’s book provides deep analysis on return migration and the role of diasporas in rebuilding their homeland. Numerous studies have been conducted that explore the involvement of migrants in the affairs of their homelands but what makes Galipo’s take on this topic pivotal is the depth of analysis and richness of context that she provides. The book is based on interview data collected from returnees that have come back from various parts of the western world. She examines beyond conventional wisdom and lifts the hood on more complex issues such as how return is negotiated, factors that enable some migrants to return whilst others are unable, how do some of them become agents of change, and what are the specific social and institutional circumstances within which they operate. She links this analysis to the formation of nation-building. There has been much attention given to return migration in Africa but...

The Rush for Land and Agricultural Investment in Ethiopia: What We Know and What We Are Missing

More than a decade has passed since the triple crises of food, energy and finance in the period 2007–2008. Those events turned global investor interest to agriculture and its commodities and thereafter the leasing of tens of millions of hectares of land. This article reviews and synthesizes the available evidence regarding the agricultural investments that have taken place in Ethiopia since that time. We use a systematic review approach to identify literature from the Web of Science and complement that with additional literature found via Google Scholar. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to analyze the available literature. In so doing, we raise questions of data quality, by analyzing the evidence base used by many studies (the Land Matrix database) and compare it with data we obtained from the Government of Ethiopia. We find that while the Land Matrix is the largest available database, it appears to present only a fraction of the reality. In critically assessing the literature, we identify areas that have been under-researched or are missing from the literature, namely assessments of gendered impacts, the role of diaspora and domestic investors, interdisciplinary approaches (e.g., integrating climate change, biodiversity, and water), and studies that move beyond technical assessment, such as looking at the impacts on traditional knowledge and socio-cultural systems.

“To Reach the Lands of Freedom”: Petitions of Polish Displaced Persons to American Poles, Moral Screening and the Role of Diaspora in Refugee Resettlement

ABSTRACTIn 1949, in the wake of the USA’s Displaced Persons Act of 1948, the American Committee for the Resettlement of Polish Displaced Persons received thousands of letters from refugees of peasant and worker background residing in camps in Germany and Austria. These potential immigrants appealed to the Polish diaspora for help with securing assurances of accommodation and work which would enable them to resettle in the USA. This paper investigates the discursive strategies of the authors and the wider meanings of their emigration endeavour. Firstly, it demonstrates that non-elite Displaced Persons (DPs) adopted the language of martyrology, patriotism, anti-Communism and freedom to maximise their chances of emigration. These DPs did not evoke the language of rights as they appealed to the traditional network of support, based on benevolence and familiarity. Secondly, it argues that the American Poles and Polish social elites played a crucial role in resettlement of the DPs, providing an additional layer of screening, here called ‘the moral screening’. It is an example of how ethnic and cultural communities mediated the resettlement procedures supervised by international humanitarian organisations. Using a ‘history from below’ approach, this article argues that during this episode of migration, political and economic ideological underpinnings intertwined.

Diaspora as a public diplomacy object and subject

The article studies diasporas of states that turn into a valid actor in terms of international relations and more of ten become subjects and objects of public diplomacy. Governments of states are trying to adjust efficient communication and cooperation with their diasporas facilitating the institutionalization of their associations through the establishment of government agencies embracing the issues of interaction between the government and diaspora. Diasporas are of a special importance for small countries due to the lack of resources the country might use for carrying out their foreign policy and organizing diplomatic missions. For example, diasporas of Israel, Greece, Armenia etc. in the USA significantly influence the formation of politics of the United States toward their historical motherlands contributing to the development of bilateral relations. The author states that the diaspora studies peaked in the late 1990s, when researchers studied the characteristics of the diaspora as a social entity, and raised the issue of the limits of the diaspora. The Irish, Armenian and Jewish diasporas are classic examples of how the diaspora can represent and promote the interests of its homeland in the American government, while functioning as full-on diplomatic actors in bilateral relations. The paper notes that researchers of the diaspora's role in public diplomacy are paying much attention to China and India, due to their audacious initiatives to institutionalize relations with the diasporas, in order to obtain the potential benefits diasporas can bring for bilateral relations (particularly economic ones) as mediators and catalysts. These initiatives include the establishment of ministries and government agencies to engage and coordinate work with the diasporas. Thus, part of the state apparatus works exclusively with the communities of its country abroad. In China and India, the affairs of diaspora are meddled with on subnational levels with the participation of provincial and local governments. Their diaspora ministries and agencies conduct conferences on diaspora issues within the respective countries and send missions and delegations abroad to organize communication with their diasporas. Diasporas are primarily perceived as a source of information and advice, as well as a means of civic engagement for embassies and ministries/ departments.The author draws the following conclusion: first, today states involve diasporas in fulfillment of their diplomatic targets in terms of public diplomacy to promote national interests and reaching their personal goals; second, the notion of diaspora and diplomacy have been significantly widened lately and third, representatives of different diasporas often address diplomatic practice in official way by appointing honorary consuls or in an unofficial way through the activities of citizens-diplomats.
 Keywords: public diplomacy, diaspora, diaspora diplomacy, diaspora associations, receiving state, sending state.

Editorial Introduction: Migration in the Western Balkans – Trends and Challenges

ABSTRACTThis introductory paper sets the scene for the special issue on migration in the Western Balkan region. First, we briefly outline the background to the research networking initiative in the Western Balkans—‘WB-MIGNET’—which resulted in producing the set of papers presented here. Then we describe the context in which the analysis of migration, return and development in the Western Balkans takes place, highlighting the role of diasporas and return migration. The region exemplifies a wide range and interrelation of migratory forms, including temporary and permanent labour migration, forced migration of refugees, temporary displacement, high-skilled migration and transit migration. Quite apart from the scale and diversity of migratory phenomena in this region, the special relevance of the Western Balkans rests on mass emigration, predominantly of educated young people, and their possible return, including to post-conflict areas, and role in the development of their home countries. Such processes within the Western Balkans also offer useful lessons for designing future migration policies in Europe and worldwide. The final section of this introductory paper summarizes the papers that follow and highlights their originality and key findings.

Post-Conflict Cooperation in Multi-Ethnic Local communities of Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Qualitative Comparative analysis of Diaspora's Role

How are diaspora involvement in peacebuilding and elite cooperation in multi-ethnic municipalities complementary? This article examines how local elites perceive and respond to conflict-generated diaspora's role in peacebuilding in nine post-conflict multi-ethnic municipalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and whether these perceptions can determine types of inter-ethnic cooperation within local institutions. Using a systematic comparative case study analysis utilising ideal-type fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), I derive four types of relationships. The results indicate that local elites, experiencing various levels of direct and indirect interaction with diaspora communities, perceive diaspora's role in the process as constraining their own cooperation prospects. The analysis also demonstrates that local elites perceive diaspora as insufficiently competent and imperfectly coordinated to tackle major challenges in local peacebuilding frameworks and that diaspora actions do not significantly affect the reform of current dynamics and practices of intra-ethnic cooperation among elites.

Advance diaspora diplomacy in a networked world

ABSTRACTThe role of diaspora in cultural exchange, international affairs and in economic development is now well established. What is new is the increasing proliferation of national strategies to harness them actively for public diplomacy. This article addresses the rise of Australia’s only formal, global diaspora network: Advance – Australia’s Global Community which has acted self-consciously to become an instrument of public diplomacy. Emerging from a small base in New York, Advance sought to ‘open doors’ for Australians in the world’s biggest market. Cultivating a strong membership base of well-connected individuals in the arts, commerce and professions, Advance developed its network centrality by building partnerships with state governments, Australian universities and federal government agencies. As an elite organisation of high-profile Australians overseas, Advance has developed into a global organisation communicating Australian culture and economic achievements to both Australian national audiences and foreign constituencies.Abbreviation: AAA - Australian American Association ACOLA - Australian Council of Learned Academies AWNY - Australian Women in New York BHP - Broken Hill Propriety CEDA- Committee for the Economic Development of Australia CEO - Chief Executive Officer DC - District of ColumbiaDFAT - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade ICJP - International Journal of Cultural Policy ICT - information and communications technology KEA - Kiwi Expatriate Organisation MFA - Ministry of Foreign Affairs MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology NGO - non governmental organisationNISA - National Innovation and Science AgendaNZ - New Zealand SBS - Special Broadcasting Service TIE - The Indus Entrepreneur UN - United Nations US - United States USA - United States of America YAPA - Young Australian Professionals Association

Coalition building and mobilization: case studies of the comfort women memorials in the United States

ABSTRACTDiaspora politics, coalition building, and the gender rights movement have come together to bring about the unexpected: the public memorialization in the United States of “comfort women,” young women from across Asia forced to provide sexual services to the Japanese Imperial Army during the 1930s and 1940s. In this article, we explore how local politics in the United States became the site of competing narratives over the comfort women, and debates over erecting memorials or statues in honor of these women on public land. Our analysis builds on the existing literature on the role of diaspora in international and local politics but also adds the important dimension of changing gender norms. Through case studies, we explore the dynamics behind the success or failure of the siting of a monument and the important role of activists and local politicians in mobilizing support throughout the process. Using a qualitative approach based on fieldwork and interviews, we highlight the size and trends of the ethnic Korean population, the relative strengths of supporting and opposing coalitions, and the use of the strategy of universalism in determining whether or not the goal of siting a memorial in honor of the comfort women is achieved.

Bosňácký faktor v současném džihádismu

The article analyzes activities and role of Bosniaks in contemporary Jihadist movement. Those activities are analyzed in three dimensions - domestic activities (local radical groups, recruitment, motivation or role of diaspora), activities on foreign battlefields (combat activities, propaganda or support activities) and return to homeland (violent activities, deradicalization or activities of state authorities). Analysis is focused on fighters from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and countries with significant Bosniak diaspora.

The Impact of Phenomenon of Diaspora in The Preservation of National Culture on Example of Russian Diaspora in Bolivia

<p>Globalization covers the most diverse spheres of human life, including social, where the processes of migration and globalization of culture take on special significance. Cultures arise and develop, interacting with each other. And the first field of this interaction is the diaspora. Diaspora is the environment where culture is directly developed and enriched. The development of diasporas is carried out by spreading the culture, values and traditions of their people, but at the same time integrating into society with a different culture, which implies the acquisition of new socially and spiritually significant qualities. The psychological reason for the emergence of the diaspora is that people far from their homeland begin to understand, appreciate and even more love their native culture. The development of the modern world is characterized, as we know, by globalization. Can the phenomenon of the diaspora in modern social life be associated with it? No, because the diaspora is directly connected with culture, while globalization is opposed to culture. Globalization is aimed at unification, ignoring the problem of cultural identity. Globalization involves the erasure of cultural features, the loss of cultural, ethnic, religious differences. But at the same time, globalization contributes to the growth of population migration, which leads to an increase in the number of diasporas abroad. The rapid growth of immigrant communities and their institutionalization forced to talk about "the diasporaization of the world" as one of the scenarios for the development of mankind. One way or another, this process deepens and takes more and more new forms, and the role of diasporas and their influence are intensified.</p>