Mobilising diaspora to promote homeland investment: The progress of policy in post-conflict economies

This paper examines the development of policies which seek to mobilise and maximise the potential of diaspora investment in their home countries. While a great deal of migrant entrepreneurship literature focuses on impacts in the host country, less is known about the impacts of diasporans on home countries. The paper focuses on the three post-conflict Balkan economies of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro, each of which has large diaspora communities. Through an analysis of relevant literature and policy documents, the paper shows that post-conflict economies are aiming to mobilise the diaspora in response to negative impacts of economic shocks, which in the case of the Balkans has been caused by the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and wars on the 1990s. Similar strategies are being introduced in the three economies but how these translate into coordinated policy differs, with the ability to effectively mobilise the diaspora impacting on future growth. Contributions to scholarship on diaspora communities and policy approaches are discussed.