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Kurdish Identity and Diaspora Politics: Re-Positioning Dissent
Abstract
This paper posits that the Kurdish diaspora in Europe is transforming itself into an actor that contributes to the resolution of the decades-long conflict between ethnic Kurdish communities and the Turkish state. To advance this notion of a transformative process within the Kurdish diaspora, the author examines diasporic activism by exploring (1) the emergence of new endogenous and exogenous factors that shape specific political choices by members of Kurdish diaspora communities, and (2) the author relies on a resource mobilization tool to classify the types of resources that are mobilized by the diaspora to advance a political agenda. The minority’s shift away from a reliance on traditional approaches to resource mobilization (with an emphasis on material, organizational, and human resources) in favor of post-modern mobilization techniques, which rely on cultural and moral resources, further supports the argument that a transformation is underway within the Kurdish diaspora. This combination of empirical and theoretical approaches to examining Kurdish diaspora activism reveals that current dynamics privilege a resolution to the larger conflict.
Discipline
International Relations/Affairs
Geographic Area
Kurdistan
Sub Area
Kurdish Studies