Diaspora Exclusion in Divided Home States: Israel and Turkey Compared

Abstract

This article examines how home states define and redefine membership within ‘their’ diaspora and how certain groups and individuals are excluded from this conception through discourse, policy and practice. We argue that ontological security, or the state’s need for a stable sense of identity, coherence and continuity, involves a consistent narrative about belonging that is directed at emigrants and their descendants and shapes how states interact with ‘their’ diasporas. The theoretical literature typically portrayed diaspora engagement in positive and inclusionary terms. Recently, however, scholars have argued that diaspora engagement may also have negative and exclusionary dimensions in the form of marginalisation, securitisation and persecution of specific groups and individuals abroad, as well as the cooptation of other groups. Such practices are likely in the context of divided societies, mirroring domestic modes of exclusion. Our comparative study of Israel and Turkey reveals such exclusionary dynamics based on ethnicity, religion and political inclination, which not only characterise both countries’ domestic contexts but also extend to their overseas populations. Our findings suggest that in divided states, where identity struggles and uneven citizenship shape politics and society, diaspora policies claiming to tie emigrants and co-ethnics to the homeland may never achieve full inclusion.