The State as Ethnic Activist: Hungarian Diaspora Politics in Comparative Perspective.

Using the case of Hungary's relationship to its large ethnic diaspora in neighboring countries as a starting point, this paper outlines a comparative model for understanding why and under what conditions states become "ethnic activists". Ethnic activism describes a growing trend in which states undergoing political and economic deregulation seek to create, maintain, and control transnational ties with diaspora populations. This paper argues that ethnic activism serves a specific political and strategic purpose. Diasporas represent a set of unique cultural, material, and geo-political resources for homeland state elites. By supporting activist policies, elites can appropriate these resources to bolster their domestic political legitimacy, organizational capacity, and ideological positioning. The "diaspora as resource" model offers a useful framework for explaining the motives for and modes of intensified engagement with diasporas. Within this framework, homeland state elites come to understand and promote the diaspora population as a source of strength, rather than a symbol of weakness for the homeland state and for their own political agendas. Once diaspora resources have been identified and merged into political discourse and policy debates, potential threats to their access are met by an increase in activism by the homeland state. Changes in external conditions â€" such as realignments of power in interstate relations, international norms, and shifting economic and geo-political alliances â€" shape opportunities for states to establish and control their relationship with diaspora communities. The empirical examples to support this framework come primarily from research on state-diaspora relations in post-communist Europe, but comparative examples are used to illuminate cases of ethnic activism in other regions as well. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]