Diaspora lobbies and the US government : convergence and divergence in making foreign policy / edited by Josh DeWind and Renata Segura.

"A joint publication of the Social Science Research Council and New York University Press."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : the arenas and mechanisms for establishing convergent interests / Josh DeWind and Renata Segura -- The nature and types of diasporas : divergence/convergence with hostlands and their effects / Gabriel Sheffer -- Between J date and J Street : US foreign policy and the liberal Jewish dilemma in America / Yossi Shain and Neil Rogachevsky -- Palestinians, diasporas, and US foreign policy / Mohammed A. Bamyeh -- America's role in the Northern Ireland peace process / Joseph E. Thompson -- Cuban Americans and US Cuba policy / Lisandro Perez -- Diaspora lobbying and Ethiopian politics / Terrence Lyons -- The Haitian diaspora : building bridges after catastrophe / Daniel P. Erikson -- The Iraqi diaspora and the US invasion of Iraq / Walt Vanderbush -- Convergence and divergence today and yesterday in diaspora-national government relations / Tony Smith.

Print version record.

As a nation of immigrants, the United States has long accepted that citizens who identify with an ancestral homeland may hold dual loyalties; yet Americans have at times regarded the persistence of foreign ties with suspicion, seeing them as a sign of potential disloyalty and a threat to national security. Diaspora Lobbies and the US Government brings together a group of distinguished scholars of international politics and international migration to examine this contradiction in the realm of American policy making, ultimately concluding that the relationship between diaspora groups and the government can greatly affect foreign policy. This relationship is not unidirectional--as much as immigrants make an effort to shape foreign policy, government legislators and administrators also seek to enlist them in furthering American interests. From Israel to Cuba and from Ireland to Iraq, the case studies in this volume illustrate how potential or ongoing conflicts raise the stakes for successful policy outcomes. Contributors provide historical and sociological context, gauging the influence of diasporas based on population size and length of time settled in the United States, geographic concentration, access to resources from their own members or through other groups, and the nature of their involvement back in their homelands. This collection brings a fresh perspective to a rarely discussed aspect of the design of US foreign policy and offers multiple insights into dynamics that may determine how the United States will engage other nations in future decades.

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