Sponsors or Spoilers: Diasporas and Peace Processes in the Homeland

Abstract

This work examines the influence of diaspora communities on the peace processes under way in their homelands. Specifically, the role of three communities in the United States (Jewish, Irish, and African Americans) is examined in fostering and/or hindering the implementation of peace processes under way in their respective homelands over the past few years. Underlying the choice of this dimension of peacemaking in each of the three conflict regions are two main assumptions. First is the premise that American intervention, be it diplomatic, economic or otherwise, has a significant bearing on the implementation of peace agreements in all three conflict regions and on the decision making of all the protagonists involved. As such, it is presumed to play a central role in any attempt to resolve the conflicts at hand. One explanation for the predominance of the US in each of these regions during the early 1990s was the end of the Cold War (Guelke, 1996b). That US involvement is pivotal to any resolution of the Israel–Palestine conflict is indisputable. And while it can be argued that a forthright American action to end apartheid in South Africa tarried and lacked consistency, it goes without saying that here, too, its role was significant. Even in Northern Ireland, which for decades had been considered a domestic concern of Britain alone, a proactive American stance during the early 1990s has been credited with stimulating significant progress in at least preserving the ceasefire in that region (Dumbrell, 2000; MacGinty, 1997).