Diasporas and conflicts

Danferous liaisons

Abstract

The recent arrival in Europe of refugees fleeing conflict areas has triggered a renewed interest in the relations between diasporas and conflicts. These relations are traditionally epitomized by the peace makers/peace wreckers dichotomy, whereby diasporas contribute either to conflict resolution or to conflict escalation and maintenance in their countries of origin. Research however suggests that the links between diasporas and conflicts are actually significantly more complex, and involve processes of conflict transportation and conflict autonomization in countries of settlement, but also of diasporas’ investment in conflicts with which they have no pre-established relation. These processes have important consequences on the territory and space in which conflicts are expressed, and/or which conflicts generate. Diasporas can therefore be seen as spaces where conflicts can be renewed or resolved, but also expanded and distorted.