Diasporas in Conflict: Peace Makers or Peace Wreckers?(Review)

Abstract

<p>This is a fascinating book about the political and financial roles and thence the international impact of diasporas (i.e. emigrants who have settled far from their original homelands, forming new localised ethnic communities). It should be required reading for those who continue to focus on war as the exclusive concern of sovereign states. The research project on which the book is based was jointly sponsored by the United Nations University and the United States Institute of Peace. Each of the contributors, already known as experts in their field, was asked to answer the question 'Was the particular diaspora you studied a peacewrecker or a peace-maker?' Clearly, the sponsors hoped to find the balance tipping towards peace rather than conflict, but overall the detailed findings belie their hopes. It repeatedly emerges that it is easier to mobilise emigrants to support the armed fight for the cause, especially where independence and the creation of a new state is the goal, than to work towards a more nebulous plan for peace within existing borders. This is a collection of thirteen chapters by different authors: three dealing with general issues relating to diasporas and conflict and ten detailing the conflictrelated roles of the diasporas of Israel, Palestine, Armenia, Colombia, Cuba, Sri Lanka, Kurdish Iraq, Croatia, Eritrea and Cambodia.</p>