Diasporas and Homeland Conflicts: A Comparative Perspective (Research in Migration and Ethnic Relations Series) - Softcover

Baser, Bahar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138104876 ISBN 13: 9781138104877

Publisher: Routledge, 2017

Synopsis

As violent conflicts become increasingly intra-state rather than inter-state, international migration has rendered them increasingly transnational, as protagonists from each side find themselves in new countries of residence. In spite of leaving their homeland, the grievances and grudges that existed between them are not forgotten and can be passed to the next generation. This book explores the extension of homeland conflicts into transnational space amongst diaspora groups, with particular attention to the interactions between second-generation migrants. Comparative in approach, Diasporas and Homeland Conflicts focuses on the tensions that exist between Kurdish and Turkish populations in Sweden and Germany, examining the effects of hostland policies and politics on the construction, shaping or elimination of homeland conflicts. Drawing on extensive interview material with members of diasporic communities, this book sheds fresh light on the influences exercised on conflict dynamics by state policies on migrant incorporation and multiculturalism, as well as structures of migrant organizations. As such, it will be of interest to scholars of sociology, political science and international studies with interests in migration and diaspora, integration and transnational conflict.

About this title

About the Author

Bahar Baser is Research Fellow, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University and Swedish Institute Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies (SUITS), Sweden.

Review

'Bahar Baser has written an admirable book of great significance to the study of transnational politics and the diffusion of conflict dynamics. Her carefully researched study of Turkish and Kurdish communities in Sweden and Germany provides a rich context to investigate how conflicts are imported from civil wars in the homeland. Students of comparative politics and globalization should read this account to understand how transnational processes and actors increasingly shape political outcomes in both homelands and host countries.' Terrence Lyons, George Mason University, USA 'Bahar Baser has produced a wonderful book, which successfully combines rigorous research with searing human stories from the Kurdish/Turkish case. In the burgeoning literature in migration studies, this book should be regarded as being an indispensable addition for anyone interested in the intersections between diasporas and conflict, including students, practitioners - and hopefully some policy makers too.' Feargal Cochrane, University of Kent, UK 'Based on extensive interviews and field research, this book makes an important critical contribution to the study of diasporas and imported conflicts. Baser's comparative approach brilliantly reveals how opportunity structures in the host country help shape the political mobilization of diaspora groups. It should be read by students of Swedish and German politics, Kurdish politics, ethnic conflicts, and diaspora studies alike!' Paul T. Levin, Stockholm University, Sweden 'Baser sheds new light on diaspora politics by investigating how domestic conflicts are brought into new geographies as a result of migration and how these contentions endure over generations. Looking into the diffusion of what she describes as the "low-scale civil war in Turkey", the author takes on the conversion of the Kurdish/Turkish problem into domestic controversies in Sweden and Germany, two host countries to Kurdish and Turkish migrants. The book stands as an important contribution to political science in general and to theories on migration and conflict studies as it focuses on the variations in the spillover of domestic conflicts, as a result of structure (host states' policies and politics) and agency (second generation migrants' practices and interactions). ... The strongest feature of the book is the empirical data obtained from extensive field research with hard-to- reach members of the Turkish and Kurdish activist groups. With Diasporas and Homeland Conflicts and her other related articles, Baser proves academic expertise on Turkey-origined migration in Europe, and especially regarding migration and post-migratory processes of Kurdish populations in the present-day. ... BaAYer's book is valuable insofar as it brings in the discussions on conflict importation and the role of second generations to the extensive literature on diasporas and transnationalism. Revolving around the topic of Kurdish/Turkish problem, the book also provides profound insights on domestic politics in Turkey.' Changing Turkey in a Changing World

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1138104876
• ISBN 13: 9781138104877
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 322