Ask What You Can Do For Your (New) Country: How Host States Use Diasporas

Nadejda K Marinova is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wayne State University. Within recent years a new body of literature has emerged within international relations on transnationalism and foreign policy. This literature has thus far focused on the strategic relationship between home states and their ethnic lobbies abroad, often with regard to remittances to and politics in the home country. This book breaks new ground in that it develops a theory about when, how and for what reasons host states use diasporas and the ethnic lobbies they generate to advance foreign policy goals. "Marinova's Ask What You Can Do For Your (New) Country breaks new ground and significantly advances our understanding of the symbiotic relationship between diaspora groups and the foreign policy machinery of the countries in which they reside. This is required reading for anyone grappling with the complex nature of contemporary transnational politics." --Peter Mandaville, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University "Using carefully reasoned arguments, Nadejda Marinova convincingly demonstrates the crucial role that diaspora communities play in shaping and all too-often misguiding host states' foreign policies. Given the often negative, but always consequential, policy effects of these relationships, it is all the more surprising that this is the first systematic study of this important subject. This book deserves the attention of anyone seeking new insights into how foreign policies are made." --J. Ann Tickner, Author of A Feminist Voyage Through International Relations "Ask What You Can Do For Your (New) Country is a major work of scholarship. Marinova sets the standard, for years to come, with regard to the study of diaspora politics. Theory and evidence come together to explain how host states make use of diasporas for political purposes. Case material included ranges from Lebanese-American allies of the Bush 43 Administration to Syro-Lebanese diaspora entrepreneurs in Brazil. This book is required reading for anyone interested in diaspora issues and also greatly valuable in the study of identity-related politics in general." --Patrick James, Dornsife Dean's Professor of International Relations, USC "Marinova's book provides a theoretically sound and empirically rich account of an underexplored phenomenon in foreign policy analysis: how host-states utilize diasporas in a variety of ways to pursue their foreign policy goals. The book's excellent insights into the relationship between diasporas and governments in the US, the Middle East and Latin America will be of interest to both scholars and policy makers." --Maria Koinova, Reader in International Relations, University of Warwick