Diaspora Politics in The United States - Overview

Overview

To understand a diaspora's politics, one must first understand its historical context and attachments: A diaspora is a transnational community that defined itself as a singular ethnic group based upon its shared identity. Diasporas are created by a forced or induced historical emigration from an original homeland. Diasporas place great importance on their homelands because of their long history and deep cultural association. The important of a homeland, especially if it has been lost, can result in an ethnic nationalist movement within the diaspora, often resulting in the reestablishment of the homeland. But even when homelands are established, it is rare for the complete diaspora population to immigrate to the homeland, leaving a remaining diaspora community which often retains significant emotional attachment to its foreign kin and homeland.

Ethnic diaspora communities are now recognized by scholars as "inevitable" and "endemic" features of the international system, writes Yossi Shain and Tamara Cofman Wittes, for the following reasons:

1. First, within each of a diaspora's host states, resident members can organize domestically to maximize their political clout.
2. Second, a diaspora can exert significant pressure in its homeland's domestic political arena regarding issues of diaspora concern.
3. Lately, a diaspora's transnational community can engage directly with third-party states and international organizations, in effect bypassing its homeland and host state governments.

Diasporas are thus understood as transnational political entities, operating on "behalf of their entire people", and capable of acting independently from any individual state (be it their homeland or host states.)