This book analyzes how states extend their sovereignty beyond their territories through the language of diasporas. An increasing number of states are interested in supporting, managing or controlling their populations abroad, something they define as their ‘diaspora’. Yet what does it mean for governments to formulate claims of sovereignty over populations who reside outside the very borders that legitimate them? This book argues that ‘diaspora’ should be understood as a performative discourse that enables transnational political practices that could otherwise not be justified in a normative structure of world politics, dominated by the imperatives of territorial sovereignty. The empirical analysis focuses on the former Yugoslavia and contemporary Croatia. The first part of the book examines the history of the relations between Croats abroad and their homeland, from the emergence of the question of emigration as a problem of government in the late nineteenth century until the years preceding the formation of the contemporary Croatian state. The second part explores how, in the 1990s, the merging of bureaucratic categories and state practices into the category of ‘diaspora’ was instrumental in mobilizing Croats abroad during the 1991-1995 war; in reshuffling the balance between Serbs and Croats in the citizenry; and in the de facto annexation of parts of neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina in the immediate aftermath of the war. This book will be of much interest to students of critical security studies, international political sociology, diaspora studies, border studies, and International Relations in general.

Drawing on examples from the global North and South, this book examines the relationship between migration, development and diaspora engagement from a governance perspective. It explores the ways that governments interact with their own extra-national diasporic populations in order to boost economic development, build global trading and investment networks, and increase their political leverage overseas. Inside, readers will find fifteen essays which highlight such issues as diaspora engagement by governments at different scales, the divisions that often exist within diaspora groups, diaspora transnationalism and return migration, diaspora knowledge networks and higher education capacity building, and the neglected issues of South-South migration and diasporas as well as North-South migration and diasporas. The book presents empirical case studies from various geographical contexts including Australia, Canada, the Philippines, India, the Caribbean, Zimbabwe, and the United States. Overall, this book presents fresh insights into how and why migrant-sending countries are increasingly turning to the diaspora option to attempt to benefit from the transfer of knowledge, skills and financial and social capital. It provides policy makers, researchers, and students with new perspectives on governance and the means by which states are attempting to utilize their diaspora resources.

This volume charts the rapid rise of various forms of diaspora institutions, across distinct historical phases and geographical regions, explaining the way that evolving models and best practices of international migration management have increasingly changed the way states see their diasporas and reconfigured the rules of international politics.

The study of global governance has often led separate lives within the respective camps of International Political Economy and Foucauldian Studies. Guzzini and Neumann combine these to look at an increasingly global politics with a growing number of agents, recognising the emergence of a global polity.

Modern diasporas may seem far-flung and incohesive, but in fact they have an outsized impact on the politics of their homeland. Through a global range of case studies, this groundbreaking volume explores transnational diaspora politics and its effect on development, democratization, conflict, and the changing nature of citizenship. Contributors speak from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and areas of expertise, revealing how diasporic politics have played an undeniable role in shaping the development governance of Mexico, popular unrest in Sri Lanka, and recent Ethiopian elections. While many thought globalization would usher in a new era of cosmopolitanism, the essays in this volume prove ethnonationalism and patron-client relationships continue to thrive in transnational spaces. Homeland governments, opposition parties, and insurgent groups are all cognizant of the political capital residing in global diasporas, and they eagerly pursue the power of co-nationals to advance their strategies of development and broader geopolitical aims.Ambitious and timely, this anthology puts forth a comprehensive, theoretical, and empirical paradigm for mapping contemporary diaspora politics.

The Microfoundations of Diaspora Politics examines the various actors within and beyond the state that participate in the design and implementation of diaspora policies, as well as the mechanisms through which diasporas are constructed by governments, political parties, diaspora entrepreneurs, or international organisations. Extant theories are often hard-pressed to capture the empirical variation and often end up identifying ‘exceptions’. The multidisciplinary group of contributors in this book theorise these ‘exceptions’ through three interrelated conceptual moves: first, by focusing on understudied aspects of the relationships between states as well as organised non-state actors and their citizens or co-ethnics abroad (or at home - in cases of return migration). Second, by examining dyads of ‘origin’ states and specific diasporic communities differentiated by time of emigration, place of residence, socio-economic status, migratory status, generation, or skills. Third, by considering migration in its multiple spatial and temporal phases (emigration, immigration, transit, return) and how they intersect to constitute diasporic identities and policies. These conceptual moves facilitate comparative research and help scholars identify the mechanisms connecting structural variables with specific policies by states (and other actors) as well as responses by the relevant diasporic communities. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

"A joint publication of the Social Science Research Council and New York University Press."