Diasporas Shape Politics Back Home From Afar

from YaleGlobal Online. “Modern forms of communication, cell phones and internet, allow citizens anywhere to stay on top of politics in their native lands. Diasporas promote wars or peace, send remittances to families and political groups, lobby for good relations with other nations and organize protests to focus attention on problems. Members of any diaspora specialize in, depending on skills, resources and laws in the country where they reside, explain Terrence Lyons and Peter Mandaville co-directors of the Center for Global Studies at George Mason University and authors of a forthcoming book on the topic. Some governments and parties even dole out power and rights to influential diasporas or reject them as traitors. Diaspora members don’t have to endure the consequences of policies they endorse, and political views between those at home and those away can shift out of alignment. Still, Lyons and Mandaville predict that transnational engagement is likely to grow as a part of political life in the coming decades.”