The Global — How did earlier waves of global networks and colonialism structure migration patterns? What role does migration play in our globalized economy today? What are the global implications of migration? Why are discussions of migration around the globe becoming increasingly politicized?
What legal obligations do countries have towards migrants? What rights do migrants have under international law? What economic, political, and social factors in sending countries precipitate migration? How do migrants, as transnationals, experience the process of migrating across borders? Diaspora and migration are two words between which a key difference can be identified.
First let us define these two words. Diaspora refers to a population that shares a common heritage who is scattered in different parts of the world. On the other hand, migration refers to people moving to different areas in search of a settlement. The key difference between Diaspora and migration is that in Diaspora the people maintain a very strong tie to their homeland, their roots, and their origin, unlike in migration.
Through examples, let us examine the differences between these two words. A special feature here is that these people try to keep in touch with their homeland. This can specifically be noticed in the 21st century where diasporas maintain political ties with their homeland. When speaking of diasporas, this has existed from the ancient days itself.
For example, after the fall of Constantinople, it is believed that the Greeks fled. Another example for Diaspora is the Jews who were expelled from Judea. Diasporas-outreach policies include not just traditional consular services for nationals abroad, but also programmes within domestic ministries focusing on, for example, health, welfare, labour, education, economy, culture, or religion.
Several countries, including the Philippines, Bangladesh, Canada and Israel, have entire ministries dedicated exclusively to diasporas relations. While diasporas outreach programmes are often aimed at using remittance money for development, governments increasingly facilitate links in other ways.
Many states have made it easier to preserve or access citizenship for diaspora members, or have developed new forms of membership.
Agunias and Newland, For example, individuals that can provide evidence of links to their countries of origin can apply for ethnic origin cards in India, Turkey, Croatia and others states. Some states, such as Mexico, have also redesigned structures relating to electoral representation in order to be more inclusive of nationals abroad. In origin states where citizens living abroad are not allowed to vote, political associations may be developed as alternative forms of representations.
Data on diaspora populations are difficult to collect, as emigrants are not automatically members of diasporas, and second- and third-generation descendants of migrants may also be considered or consider themselves to be part of a diasporas group. Generally, there is far more information available on diasporas than there are data. Information is qualitatively different from data, with information suggesting a non-systematic approach. Currently there are no attempts to measure global diaspora populations per se, but the data sources below can act as a proxy for diasporas that maintain links to a certain country of origin.
Few data are available on diaspora groups that are linked by a common religion or ethnicity. Data on emigrant stocks are one such proxy. Some countries with high emigration rates include questions on emigration in their national censuses, which often include questions on emigrant destinations, demographic characteristics, education level, and motivation for migration, among others. However, emigrant stock data give an incomplete picture of diaspora populations, for the reasons listed in the above paragraph, and as global migration figures do not always differentiate between short- and long-term migrants.
Data on issues relating to diasporas can also inform our knowledge of diasporas. Similarly, data on migrant remittances capture just one of many ways in which diasporas influence their home and host countries. Additionally, operational data can inform our understanding of diaspora groups. Examples include studies on diaspora groups from Zambia , Angola , Morocco and Moldova. More information is available on diaspora-related topics than there are data.
The strengths and weaknesses of proxy data sources are available on the stocks and remittances pages. Studies on diaspora populations conducted by origin countries are often limited by the human and financial costs of conducting large-scale surveys in far-flung locations.
Several States, such as Nigeria and St. Vincent and the Grenadines , have databases on diaspora populations that are based on voluntary online registrations, while others collect data based on emigration records. While some destination countries, such as Germany , have conducted studies looking at many aspects of the members of diasporas living within their borders, data on diasporas are far from comprehensive.
Currently, research on diasporas-related institutions consists mostly of single-country case studies, with limited comparative analysis and even less quantitative research. This means that the determinants that lead to the development of diasporas outreach policies, as well as any potential best practices in diasporas-related policies, can be further explored. The Oxford Diasporas Programme , which ended in , was one of the few comparative analyses of diasporas outreach programmes, and also included several other projects measuring the social, economic, political, and cultural impact of diasporas across the world.
As discussed above, data on emigrant stocks can serve as a rough proxy for diaspora populations. However, data on emigrants are difficult to collect, as evidenced by the fact that the total number of immigrants recorded worldwide is higher than the number of emigrants reported. Unlike immigrant stocks, it is difficult to capture the number of emigrants through national census-taking.
As many countries do not collect data on potential emigrants as they pass through border controls, it is likely that data on emigrant stocks are lower bounds. An additional issue is that research on diasporas-related issues focuses overwhelmingly on South-North migration.
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