Voice After Exit: Explaining Diaspora Mobilization for the Arab Spring

Abstract Research demonstrates that diaspora movements play a powerful role in contentious politics and social change in their homelands under a range of conditions. However, few have systematically explained the conditions that facilitate diaspora movements’ “voice” after “exit” across cases or over time. The article addresses this shortcoming by explaining how and to what extent diaspora movements became auxiliary forces for anti-regime rebellions during the Arab Spring. Using data that include 239 original interviews on Libyan, Syrian, and Yemeni mobilization from the US and Great Britain, the analysis finds that only some diaspora groups played a sustained, full-spectrum role in their home-country’s rebellion by broadcasting their allies’ claims, remitting resources homeward, representing the rebellion to external audiences, brokering between parties, and volunteering on the front lines. The article then demonstrates how differences in (1) the rebellion’s needs, (2) geopolitical support, (3) activist resources, and (4) access to the front lines produced variation in auxiliary activism by national group, host-country, and over time. In so doing, the article contributes to theories of transnationalism, social movements, diaspora politics, and cross-border contentious politics more generally.