The Jewish Diaspora and the Russo-Ukrainian Crisis

Summary:

Two questions arise when the role of a diaspora in crisis is considered. Do diasporas embody an internal threat to the security of the nation state? And why do some efforts to use diasporas as a tool of international politics succeed while others fail? In this paper, the Ukrainian 2014-2015 crisis involving Russia is analyzed in order to suggest answers to these questions. The author examines the political reactions of a specific diaspora group: the Jews in Ukraine and Russia.

The author finds that the diaspora became divided across the fault-line of a clash between the two states, Russia and Ukraine. She concludes that, ultimately, the political power of the diasporas in Russia and Ukraine is limited, and cannot really diverge from the political line of the host state. Concerning the diaspora-host-homeland relational triangle, the paper suggests that the neutral position of Ukraine toward Israel allows more freedom for diaspora organizations to advance an independent political agenda, while the difference in foreign-policy goals between Israel and Russia means that the diaspora organizations have no choice, but to limit their political activism to the permitted cultural-economic spheres.

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