Re-imagining the nation: diaspora strategies, development and identity struggles in Abiy Ahmed's Ethiopia (original) (raw)

Since the early 2000s, diaspora members have been framed as ‘agents of development’ in international development thinking and courted by a vast array of actors who aim to capitalize on their remittances, skills and knowledge. Among those actors, the Ethiopian state has been particularly active in devising diaspora engagement policies, especially since Prime minister Abiy Ahmed’s election in April 2018. This thesis examines the ways in which Abiy’s intensified attempts to reach out to the global diaspora are indicative of a shift in the state’s approach to development and in the relationship between the Ethiopian state and its citizens. It explores the intricate relationship between identity and politics in Ethiopia as well as the articulation of diaspora policies with questions of belonging, state- and nationhood, neoliberalism, state-population relationships and globalisation. The thesis argues, on the one hand, that the Ethiopian government’s attempts at engaging the diaspora in development are inscribed into neoliberal policies and modes of governance in which the responsibility for development is increasingly individualized and depoliticized. Relying on interviews conducted with members of the Ethiopian diaspora in Switzerland, the thesis also argues that, on the other hand, diaspora policies offer to emigrants the possibility to bring their concerns into the state and to influence state development policies, hence acknowledging that they have an agency which tends to be ignored in the literature.

Sign up for access to the world's latest research.

checkGet notified about relevant papers

checkSave papers to use in your research

checkJoin the discussion with peers

checkTrack your impact