Emerging diasporas: Exploring mobilization outside the homeland
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Author | Erin K Jenne,Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham,Stephen Saideman,Connor Kopchick |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343320980803 |
| Subject Matter | Regular Articles |
Regular Articles
Emerging diasporas: Exploring
mobilization outside the homeland
Connor Kopchick
Department of Government and Politics,
University of Maryland
Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham
Department of Government and Politics,
University of Maryland and Peace Research
Institute Oslo
Erin K Jenne
Department of International Relations, Central
European University
Stephen Saideman
Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton
University
Abstract
An enormous number of people are leaving their homelands around the world today. This has happened several times
in the past, but migration has spiked in recent years. These population movements can have significant effects on
both the host country (where emigrants or refugees settle), as well as politics back in the homeland. After they leave
their homelands, why do some groups mobilize, and in what ways? In this article, we examine a number of factors
that may impact when emigrated groups mobilize after they move. We develop a new dataset on potential diasporas
in the United States to evaluate a series of hypotheses, including those about motivations for mobilization such as
identity maintenance, the objective plight of co-ethnics in the homeland, and group capacity to mobilize. We find
some merit in the identity preservation argument and a strong effect of geographic concentration of the diaspora
segment. Surprisingly, diaspora mobilization does not appear to be strongly related to conflict in the homeland
among these groups.
Keywords
diaspora, identity, mobilization
Lord Acton once famously declared ‘exile is the nursery
of nationality’, asserting that moving away from one’s
homeland would lead people to mobilize politically
around a national or ethnic identity.
1
There are several
spectacular examples of this, such as the Jewish, Greek,
and Armenian groups that became highly politically
active outside their putative homelands. Yet, many other
groups leave their homeland only to assimilate into the
dominant society of their adoptive country. Even among
groups that retain their identity once settled in their host
state, there is variation in the strength and orientation of
mobilization – some groups form cultural associations
while others engage in overt political action surrounding
their identity.
This article explores the determinants of mobilization
for potential diasporas whose members immigrated to the
United States.By comparing groups that varyin how they
mobilize post-immigration, we work to identify factors
that explain variation in cultural and political activism.
In contrast to conventional wisdom, we find the plight
of the kin populationback in the homeland is not strongly
related to diaspora mobilization. Instead, we find support
for arguments focusing on the imperatives of identity
preservation and on group capacity to mobilize.
Corresponding author:
kgcunnin@umd.edu
1
Cited in Shain (2007).
Journal of Peace Research
2022, Vol. 59(2) 107–121
ªThe Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/0022343320980803
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