Many diasporans have never moved but boundary changes rooted in wars and world politics, decolonization, or collapsing empires, have cut them off from their traditional homelands. If they moved, they may have chosen to do so for economic or private reasons, they may have fled because of political, social, or cultural reasons (including genocide or "ethnic cleansing), or they may even have sought safe haven across a border in order to organize a resistance movement or rebellion at home. They may have become naturalized and permanently integrated in their hostlands, or they may remain mobile and uneasily transient, or in many intermediate conditions -- what leads us to view them as diasporans is their continuing relationship to the homeland (real or imagined) from which they or their ancestors came.

The role of diasporas can be looked at as both an international and a domestic matter. At the international level, they may return home, provide financial and moral support, become politically and economically active in their homelands, seek to influence the policies of states and agencies involved internationally, and try to mobilize activists. Their activities may range from support for established states to opposition to their policies and power. It may include encouragement of ethnonational movements and range from peaceful persuasion to violent confrontations. Normally, different groups organize within the same diaspora community and they rival each other, sometimes bitterly. The leaders of diaspora movements are, of course, not only swayed by ideological differences but also by personal ambitions.

A diaspora's relationship to its homeland is usually interactive in the sense that groups and governments located in the homeland are interested in their diasporas and seek to influence their fate or conduct in different directions and by many means, including international interventions with hostland states. Often they seek support from diasporans at the political, cultural and economic levels, and sometimes seek to attract them to come home for various reasons, or offer a refuge for those subjected to abuse in their hostlands. Membership in a diaspora is not static but can fluctuate as the interest of individuals in their homeland grows or dwindles -- it may also vary with the degree to which potential diasporans are effectively integrated in the life of their hostlands.

At the same time, diasporans usually organize within the hostlands where they live and become involved in its domestic problems. Such actions can include internal struggles between factions within a diaspora community, efforts to influence public opinion and foreign policy, plus a range of social, economic, cultural, religious, and other activities designed not just to advance their personal welfare and interests but also to promote causes based on the identity and prospects of their homelands and its national communities.

NOTE: Participants are asked to consider such propositions as these, to critique them, and offer evidence to revise or support them. Discussants are asked not just to comment on individual papers but to seek a synthesis, to evaluate their contributions to the theoretical framework offered in the general abstract for the panel -- to indicate what revisions or elaborations may be useful, including in follow-up panels. Relevant texts and documents will be posted on this Web Page to facilitate continuing dialogue before and after the ISA conference.

Diasporas in World Politics: Comparative Perspectives -- Session I (linked panel) Thursday TA 8:30 am

Sponsor: ENMISA; Co-sponsor: Global Development

Organizer: Fred W. Riggs, University of Hawaii, US

Chair: Rey Koslowski, Rutgers University-Newark, US

Paper 1: The Jewish Diaspora and Israel -- An Historic Perspective, by Howard Adelman, York University, Canada

Paper 2: Israelis in a Jewish Diaspora: The Multiple Dilemmas of a Globalized Group, by Gallya Lahav Wesleyan University, US and Asher Arian, CUNY-Graduate Center and Haifa University.

Paper 3: African Pro-Democracy Movements in the Diaspora by Kole Shettima, Ohio University, Ohio

Discussants: Andrea Bertone, University of Maryland, US;

Diasporas in World Politics: Comparative Perspectives -- Session II (linked panel) TB Thursday 10:30 am

Sponsor: ENMISA; Co-sponsor: Global Development

Organizer: Fred W. Riggs, University of Hawaii, US

Chair: Yosef Lapid, New Mexico State University

Paper 1: Diaspora Communities in Toronto: A Comparative Analysis by Sarah Wayland, University of Toronto and Brock University, Canada

Paper 2: US Urban Indians as a Diaspora in Process of Creation by Harold Orbach, Kansas State University, US

Paper 3: Cubans living in the US and Venezuela by Holly Ackerman, Tulane University, US

Paper 4: The Irish Diaspora and Northern Ireland by Josephine Squires, Fort Hays State University US

Discussant: Jonathan Friedman, University of Lund, Sweden

Diasporas in World Politics: Comparative Perspectives -- Session III (linked panel) Thursday TC 1:45 pm

Chair:. Ted Robert Gurr, University of Maryland, College Park, US

Paper 1: Comparing Post-Soviet Diasporas , by Neil J. Melvin, Leeds University, UK

Paper 2: Russia and Russian Diasporas in the "New Abroad", by Marion Recktenwald, University of Maryland, US

Paper 3:Politicising the Diaspora: Contested Identities Among Greek Cypriots in the UK by Madeleine Demetriou, Rutherford College, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury, Kent, UK

Discussants :

Lee R. Schwartz Department of State, Geographer;
TEL: (202) 647-1988; FAX: (202) 647-0504; e-mail: AClschwa@us-state.osis.gov

Nergis Canefe, Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom
Phone: (44) 01753 882686, Fax: (44) 01753 885341,
E-mail: ncanefe@yorku.ca or itemp1@ihrinfo.ac.uk

NOTE: Sadly, Prof T. V. Sathyamurthy, University of York, died in August 98 of a heart attack. He had been scheduled to present a paper on The Changing Impact of the Indian Diaspora since Independence in this panel. Colleagues express their condolences with great sadness: he was a distinguished and eminent Indian scholar, himself in diaspora. FWR

This paper presents a typology and description of the historical stages of the Cuban diaspora, analyzing the extent, trajectory and significance of political diversity and varying styles of action within the diaspora. In particular, the paper presents comparative data on the two countries with the largest concentrations of Cubans outside the island - one community in the United States in Dade County, Florida and the second in Venezuela. The paper concludes with commentary on the comparative outcomes of different patterns of settlement, and contexts of reception for diaspora politics and community life.

Historical Overview
... Pushes and Pulls into the Diaspora
... The pre-1980 Era
... The post-1980 Era

Politics and the Cuban Diaspora
... A view emphasizing variety - the myth of the monolith in Cuban diaspora politics
... Styles of social/political action in the Cuban diaspora
... The era of direct action and expected return- 1959-1965
... The era of political action with diasporan control 1970-1990
... The era of mutual action between exile and island 1990 - Present

Beyond Miami - a comparative view of two Cuban communities
... The context in Venezuela
... The context in Miami

Comparative outcomes in political action and community life.

Holly Ackerman is an Assistant Professor of Social Work and Latin American Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana who has written extensively on Cuban migration and the social composition of Cuban exile communities. She will be leaving Venezuela at the end of June and will then close her current cantv.net e-mail account. After that use her Tulane address (hackerm@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu). During June, use: (hackerman@cantv.net)

The paper will have three parts, an historical part dealing with the history and conception of the diaspora in Jewish thought, a contemporary part dealing with the role of the diaspora in the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and a concluding section dealing with the implications for the dialectic of diaspora and homeland on the future of Jews as a community.

Part I: Historical Background
1. Refugees and Emigrants: The Galut and the Diaspora in Temple Judaism;
2. Geographical and Spiritual Exile Under Christian Hegemony;
3. Assimilation and its Perception in the Enlightenment;

Part II: The Diaspora and the Creation of Israel after WW II
1. The Role of the Jewish Lobby
2. Refugees in Europe
3. The Diaspora and Arms Supplies
4. Financial Aid

Part III: The Dialectic of Dispersion and Return

Howard Adelman is a Professor of Philosophy at York University who, in addition to his strictly philosophical writings, has written extensively on the Middle east, refugees, conflict management, early warning, humanitarian intervention and genocide.

Professor Howard Adelman, Philosophy, York University
S425 Ross, 4700 Keele St.,North York, Canada. M3J 1P3
Phone: 416 736 5113

This paper examines the political activities of the Greek Cypriot community in the United Kingdom as an example of a diaspora group seeking to influence the foreign policies of its home and host state towards a particular international issue - in this case, the Cyprus conflict. The paper is part of ongoing research which examines both the political mobilisation of the Greek Cypriot diaspora and the intra-communal politics within the diaspora engendered by this process. It is based on contact with and observation of the Greek community in the UK (especially lobbying groups, party political organisations and community leaders).

A second element of the research involves an exploration of the transnational dynamic which obtains between the diaspora and the homeland. This is the result of an investigation of government links with and policies towards what it often rather possessively perceives as 'its' diaspora. The aim will be to highlight some of the tension between the diaspora and its purported 'home', as well as the growing awareness by the diaspora of the need for its own voice in the Cyprus conflict, independent of official government and party lines.

This paper is an extension of my current work on diasporic identities and loyalties, the objective of which is to explore the complex interplay between the construction of Greek Cypriot diasporic identities by members of that community and community leaders seeking political capital through the mobilisation of these identities. Rather than attempting to confirm or refute a hypothesis about what makes diasporic identities politically efficacious, I am seeking to understand the significance of changing identities and their implications for diasporic politics in the context of the UK's ever-evolving Greek Cypriot community.

Madeleine Demetriou is a part-time teacher and Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.

Madeleine Demetriou, Dept. of Politics and International Relations, Rutherford College, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury Kent CT2 7NX UK. E-mail: md20@ukc.ac.uk

Asher Arian is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and also teaches and researches at Haifa University, and the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem. He has been twice elected to the Executive Committee of the International Political Science Association, and is currently editor of the IPSA book series. Arian has written extensively on Israeli politics, mostly focusing on elections, public opinion, political parties, and security.

Asher Arian, CUNY-Graduate Center and Haifa University; E-mail: arian@idi.org.il

Gallya Lahav is Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University, and Research Affiliate at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. She teaches and writes on international migration and the European Union, and has served as a consultant to the Population Division of the United Nations. She holds graduate degrees from the London School of Economics, and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and has been the recipient of the Mellon/SSRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award in International Migration. Her recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Common Market Studies, and Global Governance.
Address: Department of Government, Wesleyan University, Public Affairs Center, Middletown, CT 06459; E-mail: GLAHAV@WESLEYAN.EDU

A growing number and proportion of American Indians are now more or less permanent non-reservation residents, largely living in urban areas. The proportion may be as high as 40 percent. The situation varies from region to region and from tribe to tribe, but the phenomenon has been recognized by many Native Indian leaders and academics. The implications are great because the various rights of Indians and obligations and responsibilities of the federal government through treaties and other compacts are to specific Indian nations, tribes, bands, etc., cover specified geographical territories and list specific obligations. But urban Indians are more and more losing contact with a specific tribe and reservation, there is good deal of "inter-marriage" and children grow up in totally different contexts from reservation life.

At the same time there has been some movement toward "pan-Indian" identities. Pan-Indian movements, e.g., AIM, are largely led by urban Indians. They have had limited and mixed success over the past 25 years despite the tremendous mobilizations in the 1970s. Part of the problem is the absence of legal responsibilities to non-tribal members and the blurring of the existing obligations owed to specific tribes. There also are conflicts between "traditionalists" and "modernizers" over just what is "traditonal" though emphasis on "elders" and "spirituality" are common among both. The diaspora in the making can be seen in the growth of pan-Indian cultural and social developments such as the development of the "pow-wow" circuit where pan-Indian and synthetic Indian elements combine through re-presentation and re-interpretation of original specific Indian tribal elements: music, dance, stories, crafts and artistic work.

We will review the development of the urban Indian population and the cultural, social and organizational features that are involved. The legal and political problems involved in the attempt to create Pan-Indian organization will be treated and the negative impact of 'Indian gaming,' partiularly in fragmenting the moves toward "pan-Indianism by re-emphasizing tribal rights, identities and privileges that do not accrue to "de-racinated" urban Indians.

Harold L. Orbach, Dept of Sociology, Kansas State University E-mail: hlorbach@ksu.edu

ABSTRACT: The collapse of the Soviet Union has plunged the territories comprising the former USSR into a state of widespread uncertainty and insecurity. Contested boundaries, socio-economic turmoil and the multi-ethnic nature of weak and often newly emerging states have created a recipe for chronic instability and both actual and potential conflict. One of the unique aspects of multi-ethnicity in this region has been the 25.3 million ethnic Russians who suddenly drifted outside the Russian Federation and became part of the newly independent states. Some observers believe that, through their size, their questionable loyalty to their new host states, and their sudden "transformation from dominant group to an ethnic minority," this group created "instant diasporas."

This feature, in conjunction with the Russian Federation's declaration of responsibility to defend its diaspora and growing evidence of attempts by some Russian players to utilize such a group for the pursuit of Russian great power interests has spurred a wide public and scholarly interest in these Russian diasporas. Despite the mushrooming of research into the influence of those diasporas on developments in the newly independent states and as a transborder phenomenon with ties to other Russian diasporas and patrons in the Russian Federation, there to date exists no consensus as to the boundaries and nature of those diaspora, their relationship with actors in the Russian Federation, and implications for developments in the host countries.

The study demonstrates that the nature of those diasporas, their boundaries, and domestic and foreign policy implications are not shaped solely by conditioning factors intrinsic to the diaspora and its host country. Instead international factors, especially the relationships with actors in the Russian Federation and their influences, are central to shaping the specific boundaries of such a diaspora and its behavior. The study explores the Ukrainian case while also drawing comparisons with Russian diasporas in Kazahstan ... and the Baltic cases. It will illustrate that large segments of the (real or imagined) Russian diasporas tend to picture themselves as part of the East (Eurasia) rather then the West (Europe).

Marion Recktenwald, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland at College Park; 104 West Myrtle Street, Alexandria, VA 22310; Hpone: (703) 836-3130; e-mail:v-mreckt@bss2.umd.edu.

Sadly, we announce the death of Prof. Sathyamurthy -- a great scholar and good friend. For the record, here is what he proposed for this panel:

ABSTRACT: With the onset of Independence, the sociology of migration became more complex. Whilst under colonial rule out-migration was principally due to the requirement of cheap labour in a far-flung empire, those emigrating after 1947 included, besides cheap labour destined for factories or for services or for petty trade, professionals who became a part of the "brain drain" (and, latterly, certain segments of the bourgeoisie or their representatives that have become integrated with international capital). Moreover, a significant proportion of those emigrating was destined for metropolitan Britain or for other parts of the West (and Australia) in general and North America in particular. During the last 30 years, the pattern of emigration has varied further, giving the NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) much greater political clout than they had enjoyed in the past. Globalization and liberalization policies during the last decade or so have intensified this process.

The elaboration of the process of emigration from a narrowly based (i.e more or less limited to the rural underclass) into a much wider ranging (i.e. multiclass, ranging all the way from cheap labour to capitalist and managerial classes) phenomenon has been accompanied by an increasingly dynamic dual political role played by the diaspora - in the politics of the host country as a pressure group representing the interests of their mother country; and, in the politics of the country of their origin (in this case, India).

T. V. Sathyamurthy was Professor Emeritus of Politics, and Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow for 1998 - 1999 , University of York, England. When he died he was engaged in writing a book on the Emerging Configuration of forces in international politics and their impact on South Asia.

ABSTRACT: Although, within Northern Ireland, the Catholic minority has, in the past, supported the undoing of the Union between Britain and Northern Ireland and the unification of the two Irelands, much of the moral, political, and financial support for the movement has come from the Irish diaspora. The primary locations of this diaspora are on the British mainland and in North America. Of these two groups, the group in North America has been far more vocal in its support of the Single Ireland cause and has also been the source of much funding for the movement. The diaspora in Britain has had to limit its voice, in part due to fear of reprisals, both from violent opponents and the legal system.
Since the latest peace accord, strongly supported by over 70% of the Northern Irish, and plans for elections for an autonomous parliament in Northern Ireland, the British and and North American diasporas are moving closer together in terms of goals and actions, and each is interpreting the Movement in new ways. This paper traces the history of the Irish diaspora and identifies ways in which diaspora attitudes and actions have changed over the past decade.

Josephine Squires, Department of Political Science and Justice Studies, Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS 67601
Tel: (785) 628-5394; Fax: (785) 628-4087; E-mail pojs@fhsu.edu

This paper compares the modes of mobilization of the Kurdish disapora in France and Germany. Both of these countries have been recipients of Kurdish immigration, starting in the 1960s. Both countries subscribe to the western liberal democratic traditions where the freedom to dissent is one of the founding principles. Yet, the Kurdish diaspora, and Kurdish separatists in particular, have demonstrated different modes of dissent in these two countries. In Germany, they have pursued a more organized and violent course. By contrast, in France, the dissent has been much more individualistic and less organized and coordinated. The paper will first document these different modes of activities in both countries. It will then discuss why this might be the case.

Emek M. Ucarer, Department of Government and International Studies, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29205
Phone: (803) 777-1332 Fax: (803) 777-1693 E-Mail: eucarer@vm.sc.edu

ABSTRACT: Diaspora groups have long been involved in the ethnopolitical struggles of their region or country of origin. However, the development of certain globalizing factors may have enabled diasporas to expand their transnational influence, allowed them to become important international actors and to significantly influence home country conflicts. This paper explores the power of the diaspora, first by placing it in a broader conceptual framework and second by examining several particular cases of diaspora activism and influence within one local and national context, that of Toronto, Canada. My detailed case study is based on original research on the political activism of Sri Lankan Tamils in Toronto, likely the largest Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in the world, and the diaspora's ties to the war of secession being waged by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. Tamils are then compared with some other recent immigrant groups who have engaged in transnational political mobilization from the Toronto area.

In this paper, I address the strategies and activities of immigrant social movements, including how they make use of a transnational opportunity structure (that includes the host and home countries); how they operate within certain legal/institutional opportunity structures in the host country (and city); and what types of activities the ethnic elites engage in to promote a common identity and maintain a sense of heritage. This paper builds on my previous research on the political mobilization of ethnoracially-distinct immigrants and their descendants who have settled in Western European and North American democratic states. In my current research, I use the term diaspora to imply a certain degree of social distance between the migrant community and the receiving society, thereby highlighting the possibility that even those populations interested in integration in the countries where they have settled often maintain a keen interest in the ongoing conflicts left behind.

Sarah V. Wayland is Interim Academic Coordinator of the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement - Toronto, which is part of the international Metropolis project. She received her PhD in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland in 1995. Her dissertation was entitled "Immigrants into Citizens: Political Mobilization in France and Canada." She has published on collective action by immigrants and on questions of immigration and citizenship in the journals Ethnic and Racial Studies, New Community, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, and the International Journal on Minority and Group Rights.

Sarah Wayland, Visiting Scholar, Dept of Pol Science, Univ. Toronto,
220 Robert St., Toronto, ON M5S 2K7 CANADA
ph. 416-929-8221, fax. 416-971-3094, email, sarah.wayland@utoronto.ca

Session I

Chair: Ted Gurr Distinguished University Professor, CIDCM, Suite 0145 Tydings Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7231 USA;
Phones: (301) 314 7710 (of), (410) 263-3158 (ho); Fax: (301) 314 9256 (of); email: <tgurr@bss1.umd.edu>,

Discussant: Jonathan Friedman Anthropology Dept., Univ. of Lund, Lund, Sweden. E-mail:<jonathan.friedman@soc.lu.se>

Session II

Chair: Rei Koslowski; Assistant Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University-Newark University Heights, Newark, New Jersey 07102
Tel: 973-353-5753; Fax: 973-353-5103; E-mail: <rkosl@idt.net>

Discussant: Fred W. Riggs, Political Science Dept., Univ. of Hawaii. Honolulu, HI 96822, U.S.A.;< e-mail: fredr@hawaii.edu

Poster Session

Chair: Yosef Lapid, Department of Government, Box 3BN, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003; Phone: (505)646-1645 or (505)646-4935; E-mail: <ylapid@NMSU.Edu>

Discussant: Andrea M. Bertone, Department of Government and Politics University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742, U.S.A.; office 301-405-4340, home 301-220-0229, <v-abertone@bss2.umd.edu>

Holly Ackerman <hackerman@cantv.net>,

Howard Adelman <hadelman@yorku.ca>,

Asher Arian <arian@idi.org.il >,

Andrea M. Bertone <:v-abertone@bss2.umd.edu>,

Madeleine Demetriou <md2@ukc.ac.uk>

Jonathan Friedman <jonathan.friedman@soc.lu.se>,

Ted Robert Gurr, <tgurr@bss1.umd.edu>,

Rey Koslowski <rkosl@idt.net>,

Gallya Lahav <GLAHAV@wesleyan.edu>

Yosef Lapid <ylapid@NMSU.Edu>,

Harold Orbach <hlorbach@ksuvm.ksu.edu>,

Marion Recktenwald <v-mreckt@bss2.umd.edu >

Fred Riggs <fredr@hawaii.edu>

Kole Shettima <shettima@oak.cats.ohiou.edu>,

Josephine Squires <pojs@fhsuvm.fhsu.edu>,

Sarah Wayland <sarah.wayland@utoronto.ca>

Joe Hagan <j hagan@WVNVM.WVNET.EDU>,

Tom Hall tom <thall@depauw.edu>,

Martin Heisler <mheisler@bss2.umd.edu>

Alynna J. Lyon <lyonaly@VM.SC.EDU>,

Emek Ucarer <EUCARER@VM.SC.EDU>

Antje Wiener <wiener@datacomm.iue.it>,

Franke Wilmer <upofh@gemini.oscs.montana.edu>,

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