The Politics of Managing Diasporas

This paper is on state policies toward diasporas (co-ethnics abroad). Diaspora management is a term I have coined to describe both the policies that states follow in order to build links with their diaspora abroad and the policies designed to help with the incorporation and integration of diaspora communities when they “return” home. Some states have extensive policies on this front while others neglect their diasporic communities. The first research question I address is, under what conditions does a state have a diaspora management policy? I argue that countries that have a clear definition of a “national type”; a population outside of their borders—recent or not—that can fit the criteria of this definition; the capacity to design and implement such a policy; and face security threats and/or workforce shortages are more likely to develop diaspora management policies than countries that lack one or more of these factors.