Diaspora Politics: At Home Abroad Gabriel Sheffer

This book is intended to fill a gap in the study of modern ethno-national diasporas. Against the background of current trends - globalization, regionalization, democratization, the weakening of the nation-state, and massive trans-state migration- it examines the politics of historical, modern, and incipient ethno-national diasporas. It argues that in contrast to widely accepted view, ethno-national diasporism and diasporas do not constitute a recent phenomenon. Rather, this is a long-standing phenomenon whose roots are in the antiquity. Some of the existing diasporas were created in the antiquity, some during the Middle Ages, and some in modern times. Essential aspects of this phenomenon are the unending cultural-social-economic struggles and especially the political struggles of these dispersed ethnic groups, permanently residing in host countries away from their homelands, to maintain distinctive identities and connections with their homelands and other dispersed groups from the same nations. While describing and analyzing the diaspora phenomenon, the book sheds light on theoretical questions pertaining to current ethnicity and politics in general. Gabriel Sheffer is Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Recipient of the Prime Minister's Prize for Political Biography, he frequently contributes to Israeli and foreign magazines and newspapers. He has published extensively on ethno-national diasporas, the Jewish diaspora, and Israeli politics and foreign policy. Among other books, he is the author of Moshe Sharett: Biography of a Political Moderate and editor of Modern Diasporas in International Politics.