For more details, please CONTACT DIRECTLY the SI Editor:

  

Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan, Ph.D.

Henry George Chair in Economics

Associate Professor

The Peter J. Tobin College of Business,

St. John's University

 

 

More details:

 

Diaspora and economic development in the post-socialist Eurasia

 

Call for papers for a special issue

 

Editor Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan, Ph.D. [log in to unmask]

 

Proposal submission deadline: March 31, 2024

 

Target journal: Eurasian Geography and Economics

 

The history of human migrations across Eurasia stretches back into the millennia. Since the 1990s

political and economic transformations in the post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe and former

Soviet Union (CEE/FSU), those movements have acquired new forms and meaning. One specific

feature of those forced and voluntary migration waves has been the rise of the new and, in some

cases, strengthening of the existing diaspora networks in the post-socialist region and across the

world. The complexity of the connections between an ethnic or cultural diaspora and its perceived

ancestral lands makes a fascinating study in sociology and history.

But recently, much of the more applied policy-making focus has been on exploring the possibilities

for a more fruitful engagement of these expatriate groups in economic development. The process

has involved individual researchers, governments, and, most notably, practically all multilateral

development organizations. In this latest addition to the economic development topics, the

CEE/FSU region follows on tracks of similar initiatives across advanced and developing nations

globally.

In fact, over the past couple of decades, if not earlier, the concept of diaspora has crossed over

from its calm habitat of the humanities into more tumultuous fields of international business and

economics (Gevorkyan, 2022a; Panibratov and Rysakova, 2021). No longer defined by the three

classical diasporic communities—the Jewish, Greek, and Armenian (Brubaker, 2005)—under

forces of globalization, the diaspora studies have been upending scholarly endeavors as well as

established public policy in advanced and developing nations. Yet, despite the latest rise in supply

of some intellectually brave case-studies-informed policy proposals, the discourse on diaspora

seems to be unable to generate universal engagement models for broader sustainable socioeconomic

development. The latter is an urgent priority for the small developing economies—the

ancestral nations to a variety of ethnic, religious, cultural, and other diasporas. Importantly, the

traffic of ideas and capital goes in both directions: diaspora-to-homeland and homeland-todiaspora.

And all of this has become especially urgent across the post-socialist Eurasian region.

Given the above, this special issue aims to accomplish two specific goals. First, this initiative

bridges the current diaspora-policy discourse with the wealth of existing research rooted in studies

of historic identities, global networks, transnational formations, conceptualizations of homeland,

host countries, and global human migration. Second, this special issue attempts to leverage that

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rich research legacy for advancing an informed analysis (empirical or conceptual) on a range of

engagement modalities between a diaspora and country’s socio-economic development.

The special issue seeks to attract original contributions that through recognition of the multifaceted

nuances associated with diaspora would deepen contemporary understanding of the concept in

scholarly and applied contexts.

Three foundational points are relevant to this analysis. First, in conceptual terms attention should

be drawn to the history of the human migration as the key factor in a diaspora formation.

Importantly, while migration necessarily leads to a diaspora, not all migration, especially recent,

constitutes a diaspora. Multilayering transnational identities, across expatriate communities,

results in diverging predispositions to engage at individual or group levels. This nuance is little

researched in the recent applied literature but is well-covered in a variety of historical and

sociological studies of diaspora (e.g., Tölölyan, 1996).

Second, recent attempts to standardize individual case studies as best practice examples, omitting

the complexity of the local historical, cultural, and geopolitical determinants, run into a brick-wall

of policy ineffectiveness and macroeconomic underdevelopment. Related to this are the questions

of migration flows, monetary transfers (remittances), knowledge and soft-skills transfers from the

country’s diaspora to the local entrepreneurs, cultural and educational engagements, search for

innovative financial solutions funding development.

That leads to the third foundational point, which deals with the ancestral (home) country’s

engagement with its diaspora. However, not always an active diaspora may relate to (or even have)

its ancestral country on today’s world map. Moreover, even with diaspora’s inclination to engage,

the existing home country’s attitudes towards its compatriots abroad may not be conducive to

mutual rapprochement. In the end, the diaspora-for-development link becomes not so obvious in

smaller and lower income economies. Simply “having” or, discovering (Kunz, 2012), a diaspora

is not a sufficient condition for sustainable and all-inclusive economic development. A more

nuanced approach is needed.

Overall, in terms of broad theoretical framework, motivating this special ssue, the authors are

invited to consider the trinity of identity (diaspora definition), trust (within and across the diaspora

group, and engagement infrastructure (the ancestral homeland’s proactive and transparent

connection with its diaspora) categories (Gevorkyan, 2022b).

Finally, while discussions involving examples of advanced economies are relevant, this special

issue strongly encourages papers with focus on small developing countries’ realities, especially in

the context of new global economy pressures, relevant to the post-socialist CEE/FSU group of

countries. The target journal for this special issue is the journal of Eurasian Geography and

Economics. Hence, the geographical focus on Eurasia (though other geographical areas could be

included if they are explicitly brought into comparative focus with Eurasia, or the links made

obvious), and engagement with appropriate geographical literature and theory is expected.

There is no guaranteed acceptance and all submissions will undergo a blind peer-review as per the

journal’s guidelines. Authors may be asked to serve as reviewers on other papers in this special

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issue. In addition, submitting authors agree to actively participate in possible future conferences /

workshops organization and presentations as part of the special issue publication.

Please submit all proposals to [log in to unmask] Submissions should include either a

complete paper OR an extended abstract (around 500 words) detailing the research topic and

(expected) results; paper title; keywords; and authors’ affiliation and contact information.

Submission does not guarantee acceptance and will undergo peer-review.

The deadline for the initial submission is December 31, 2023.

About the editor: Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan, Ph.D. is Henry George Chair in Economics and

Associate Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and Finance of St. John’s

University’s Peter J. Tobin College of Business. Dr. Gevorkyan is the author of Transition

Economies: Transformation, Development, and Society in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet

Union (Routledge, 2018). Full bio http://agevorkyan.com/ Publications on diaspora

http://agevorkyan.com/diaspora/

References

Brubaker, R. 2005. The ‘diaspora’ diaspora. Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 28(1): 1-19.

Gevorkyan, A.V. 2022a. Diaspora and Economic Development: A Systemic View. The European

Journal of Development Research, Vol. 34: 1522–1541. https://rdcu.be/cn1AV

Gevorkyan, A. V. 2022b. Diaspora networks? In Sven Horak (ed) Informal Networks in

International Business. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 55-73.

Kunz, R. 2012. The Discovery of the Diaspora, International Political Sociology, 6(1): 103–107.

Panibratov, A., & Rysakova, L. 2021. The diaspora phenomenon: Scholarly assessment and

implications for countries and firms. Journal of Global Mobility, Vol. 9(1): 107–144.

Tölölyan, K. 1996. Rethinking Diaspora(s): Stateless Power in the Transnational Moment.

Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, Vol. 5 (1): 3-36.