Diasporas and secessionist conflicts: the mobilization of the Armenian, Albanian and Chechen diasporas

Abstract

This article examines the impact of diasporas on secessionist conflicts, focusing on the Albanian, Armenian and Chechen diasporas and the conflicts in Kosovo, Karabakh and Chechnya during the 1990s. How do diasporas radicalize these conflicts? I argue that despite differences in diaspora communal characteristics and the types of the secessionist conflicts, a common pattern of mobilization develops. Large-scale diasporic support for secessionism emerges only after independence is proclaimed by the local elites. From that point onwards diasporas become engaged in a conflict spiral, and transnational coalitions are formed between local secessionist and diaspora groups. Depending on the organizational strength of the local strategic centre and the diasporic institutions, these coalitions endure or dissipate. Diasporas exert radicalization influences on the conflict spiral on two specific junctures Á when grave violations of human rights occur in the homeland and when local moderate elites start losing credibility that they can achieve the secessionist goal.

Diasporas and transitional justice: transnational activism from local to global levels of engagement

“…Transnational social movement literature has been used to some extent by scholars of diaspora mobilization. Political opportunity structures have been identified as important for diaspora mobilization (Baser 2015;Koinova 2011a;Sökefeld 2006;Wayland 2004). Networks as mobilizing structures are also important, since collective action is spread through them, as critical events in the original homeland are framed and perceived to create or maintain an imagined community (Sökefeld 2006).…”

“…Networks as mobilizing structures are also important, since collective action is spread through them, as critical events in the original homeland are framed and perceived to create or maintain an imagined community (Sökefeld 2006). Critical events can produce emotional responses among first and second generations through personal networks and global media, making them rearticulate their 'roots' and shaping their activism (Hess and Korf 2014;Koinova 2011a). 'Frame bridging' occurred when US-based diasporas sought US intervention for political change in the Middle East during the 2000s (Koinova 2011b).…”

“…'Frame bridging' occurred when US-based diasporas sought US intervention for political change in the Middle East during the 2000s (Koinova 2011b). 'Brokerage' became a powerful mechanism to link disparate diaspora networks whether in one location or transnationally (Adamson 2013;Koinova 2011a). Coalitions -or 'collaborative, means-oriented arrangements permitting distinct organizational entities to pool resources in order to affect change' (Levi and Murphy 2006) -were built in the global city of London among a variety of groups, including diaspora members (Adamson and Koinova 2013).…”

Construction of the Israeli‐Jewish Conflict‐Supportive Narrative and the Struggle Over Its Dominance

“…Another mechanism for maintaining the legitimization of official narratives among the public of a target state involves the activities of a society's own diaspora and lobbying groups within that state—through demonstrations, interviews, and monitoring of the media (Koinova, ). The Jewish‐American lobby is a typical example of this practice.…”

Can conflict-generated diasporas be moderate actors during episodes of contested sovereignty? Lebanese and Albanian diasporas compared

“…15 I have argued elsewhere that social mechanisms such as attribution of opportunity and threat, brokerage, and emotional responses are a constitutive part of transnational diaspora mobilisation vis-à-vis secessionist movements. 16 In order to better understand the moderate mobilisation of diasporas in this study, I draw on works discussing framing processes and their relationship to political opportunity structures. Snow and Benford define a frame as 'interpretative schemata that simplifies and condenses the "world out there" by selectively punctuating and encoding objects, situations, events, experiences, and sequences of actions within one's present or past environment.'…”