Diasporic Politics and Defining Diaspora in Law: The Case of Latvia

Abstract

Passage of the Diaspora Law of Latvia required policymakers to go through an arduous process of discussing the limitations of diaspora, weighing the potential risks and benefits of various possible approaches, and ultimately agreeing on a definition to be included in the law. The end result was a very broad interpretation of who can be recognized as part of the Latvian diaspora. In this paper, to understand the political process of arriving at a definition, the theoretical perspectives of the ‘narrow’ and ‘broad’ definitions of diaspora are discussed, the motivations driving national governments to engage with their diasporas are analysed, and the discourse used during the drafting process is reviewed.

Keywords

• diaspora
• diaspora politics
• latvia
• diaspora law
• diaspora definition
• diaspora policy