This book examines the relationship between post-Soviet societies in transition and the increasingly important role of their diaspora. It analyses processes of identity transformation in post-Soviet space and beyond, using macro- and micro-level perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches combining field-based and ethnographic research. The authors demonstrate that post-Soviet diaspora are just at the beginning of the process of identity formation and formalization. They do this by examining the challenges, encounters and practices of Ukrainians and Russians living abroad in Western and Southern Europe, Canada and Turkey, as well as those of migrants, expellees and returnees living in the conflict zones of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova. Key questions on how diaspora can be better engaged to support development, foreign policy and economic policies in post-Soviet societies are both raised and answered. Russia’s transformative and important role in shaping post-Soviet diaspora interests and engagement is also considered. This edited collection will appeal to students and scholars of diaspora, post-Soviet politics and migration, and economic and political development.

Focusing on the displacement of 25 million ethnic Russians from the newly independent states after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, Pilkington illuminates wider contemporary debates about identity and migration.

This Element explains the historical conditions for the seemingly anomalous presence of people outside of 'their own' Soviet republic and the sometimes-fraught consequences for them and their post-Soviet host countries. The authors begin their inquiry with an analysis of the most massive displacements of the Stalin era – nationality-based deportations, concluding with examples of the life trajectories of deportees' children as they moved transnationally within the Soviet Union and in its successor states. The second section treats disparate parts of the country as magnets attracting Soviet citizens from far afield. Most were cities undergoing vast industrial expansion; others involved incentive programs to develop agriculture and rural-based industries. The final section is devoted to the history of immigration and emigration during the Soviet period as well as since 1991 when millions left one former Soviet republic for another or for lands farther afield.

Introduction: presumed white: race, gender, and modes of migration in the post-Soviet diaspora -- The post-Soviet diaspora on transnational reality TV -- Highly skilled and marriage migrants in Arizona -- Segmented assimilation and return migration -- The desire for adoptive invisibility -- Fictions of irregular post-Soviet migration -- The post-Soviet diaspora in comparative perspective -- Conclusion: immigrant whiteness today

In the wake of the USSR's collapse, more than 25 million Russians found themselves living outside Russian territory, their status ambiguous. Equally uncertain is the role they will play as a factor in Russian politics, local politics and relations among the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. This volume, prepared under the sponsorship of the Kennan Institute, offers a comprehensive and amply documented examination of these issues.

This work examines the reasons for and the practice of ethnic migration and the challenges it produces.

Introduction: presumed white: race, gender, and modes of migration in the post-Soviet diaspora -- The post-Soviet diaspora on transnational reality TV -- Highly skilled and marriage migrants in Arizona -- Segmented assimilation and return migration -- The desire for adoptive invisibility -- Fictions of irregular post-Soviet migration -- The post-Soviet diaspora in comparative perspective -- Conclusion: immigrant whiteness today