Online case studies of diasporas and emigrant participation in homeland politics
The proposed project intends to develop a set of online case studies that would include basic information about the emigrant communities of all UN member states (or as many as possible). Case studies would be focused on a common set of questions, including:
How large is the diasporic community? Where are its members located? Are there substantial transnational diasporic political organizations? If the home country is democratic, can its nationals living abroad vote in elections? Does the home country permit emigrants naturalizing elsewhere to keep their home country nationality? Do host countries in which most of the emigrants live permit them to maintain their first nationality after naturalizing? Do emigrants make significant financial contributions to campaigns? Do they support liberals, nationalists? Socialists? religious fundamentalists? Have any emigrants run for office? Are any in government positions? Have emigrants influenced home country foreign policies? Do emigrants and their descendants support opposition movements in the home country? Do they support nationalist movements? Do they send arms, volunteers, money in support of opposition movements? How much have emigrants sent in remittances back to the home country? In direct foreign investment? To what degree is emigrant political organizing directed at host country politics? Have they had a significant influence on host country foreign policy directed toward their home countries? Have they been successful at directing of foreign aid to home country? Influential in host country immigration and refugee policies directed toward home country? Have host country foreign policy-makers explicitly used emigrants in formulating and executing policies toward their home countries? Do emigrant organizations use new information and communication technologies? How do they use them politically and what impact do these technologies have? Have new media influenced political identity formation?
Case studies could be supplemented with list of relevant weblinks to diaspora groups and other information.
This project is an extension of a previous project, that resulted in an edited volume, Rey Koslowski ed. International Politics and the Globalization of Domestic Politics (Routledge, 2005)
Currently, I am in the exploratory process of finding a critical mass of collaborators and potential funding sources.
Researchers interested in joining this effort should email a brief note and bio to me at rkoslowski@uamail.albany.edu. I will then include you in the project organization listserv unless otherwise requested.