Diaspora organizations in international affairs

Introduction: Studying diaspora organizations in international affairs / Dennis Dijkzeul and Margit Fauser -- Capacities and constraints : Pakistani diaspora organizations in Toronto and New York City / Ali R. Chaudhary & Luis Eduardo Guarnizo -- Transnational networks for portable migrant labor rights in North America / Xóchitl Bada & Shannon Gleeson -- Diaspora organizations and citizenship / Nicholas R. Micinski -- A roller coaster of policy shifts : Ghanaian diaspora organizations navigating Dutch migration and development policies / Gery Nijenhuis -- Bringing international relations and organizational sociology to diaspora studies : Kurdish and Syrian diaspora organizations in Germany / Zeynep Sezgin -- Keeping the faith? Examining the roles of faith and secularism in Syrian diaspora organizations in Lebanon / Estella Carpi & Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh -- Conflict and peacebuilding / Danielle A. Zach -- Conclusions: What is the relevance of DOs for IR theory and research? / Dennis Dijkzeul, Margit Fauser & Rafael Bohlen.

Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, different types of Syrian-run organizations in Lebanon have been providing support and assistance to Syrian refugees. Whether in areas which are difficult for international providers to access, or in major towns and cities where international actors including the UN, INGOs and states have been providing assistance, Syrian diaspora organizations (DOs) have played a vital role. These DO initiatives have often taken the form of secular non-governmental organizations, or faith-based responses. At times, they have been actively funded by international donors or developed in formal partnership with UN agencies and INGOs, while in other contexts they have taken place on the margins of (or at times in ways that directly challenge) formal humanitarian aid structures. This chapter draws on lessons from anthropological, sociological, and IR studies, to construct a deeper understanding of secular and faith-based aid provision by members of displaced communities themselves in settings of the global South, which geographically (and geopolitically) neighbor new and ongoing crises. Based on long-standing research vis-à-vis local, national and international responses to displacement from Syria, it examines such endeavors through the framework of "refugee-led responses."