The diaspora project of Arab Americans: assessing the magnitude and determinants of politicized ethnic identity

Abstract

This paper takes up Rogers Brubaker's call to assess differences in diaspora commitment among members of ethnonational groups. The problem is approached through a case study of Arab-American advocacy on behalf of home country interests (the Arab–Israeli conflict) in the host society, the United States. Using a scale measuring politicized ethnic identity, the study examines the readiness of Arab Americans to incorporate Middle East concerns in their domestic political behaviour. Contrary to the image of Arab Americans as a monolithic bloc intensely mobilized on Middle East issues, a representative, national survey demonstrates substantial variability in the salience of the Arab–Israeli conflict to their domestic political attitudes and behaviour. The sources of this variability are consistent with constructivist theories of ethnicity. The greater the individual's cognitive, social and cultural attachment to the Arab-American community, the higher the level of politicized ethnic identity.

Keywords:

• Arab American
• diaspora
• identity
• Middle East
• foreign policy
• activism

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the research assistance of Bryan Williams, a doctoral student at the University of Florida, and to the institutions that hosted me when I was working on the paper – the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard and the Centennial Center for Politics and Policy at the American Political Science Association in Washington, DC. I received useful comments when the paper was presented in research seminars at Harvard, Georgetown and the University of Maryland. I also want to thank the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs at Middlebury College which published a preliminary version of the paper in its Working Papers series. I am most grateful to Zogby International which provided me with data under generous terms and only with the proviso that I hold them free of responsibility for any of my interpretations or analysis. They are so absolved.

Notes

1. Except in a purely nominal sense, the term ‘ethnonational community’ is itself problematic because it assumes what Brubaker believes has to be proven – that something meaningfully binds the aggregate set of individuals defined by common ethnicity.

2. Some analysts attribute the difficulty of creating a common diaspora project among Arab Americans to the perceived hegemony of pro-Israel sentiment in the United States (Samhan 1987). Critics of the ‘special relationship’ between the US and Israel face considerable opposition in trying to mobilize Arab Americans for the cause. While scholars disagree about why the US–Israel alliance developed and the role of American Jewry in promoting close ties, many in the Arab-American community believe that the ‘Jewish lobby’ has effectively delegitimated efforts to promote alternative foreign policies. Well before 9/11, they assert, the Zionist community had employed intimidation, violence and government suppression of basic civil rights to undermine Arab-American political unity on the Middle East. Whether true or not, if Arab Americans believe it is dangerous to engage in public advocacy on behalf of their homelands, the belief is sufficient to deter mobilization.

3. The qualifier recognizes that ethnic identity may be imposed on individuals by the social judgement of others. When life chances are severely circumscribed by ethnic heritage, the individual may not have a choice in deciding whether or not to identify as an ethnic.

4. If the initial respondent was not a member of one of the seven targeted groups, the interviewer asked to speak with an adult in the household who fell into one of the designated categories. If no such adult was available, the interview was terminated.

5. The survey sampled respondents from published telephone lists. All calls were made from Zogby International headquarters in Utica, New York. Slight weights were applied to region, age and gender to more accurately reflect the target population. The 5 per cent Public Use Micro-Sample from the United States Census provides population parameters for Americans with Arab ancestry.

6. For specific item wordings, contact the author.

7. Among these respondents, 82 per cent agreed with the statement about a pro-Israel bias in US policy, 57 per cent favoured lifting sanctions on Iraq and 93 per cent supported an independent Palestinian state.

8. As if to underline the diversity of Arab-American opinion, the sample was almost evenly divided between respondents who sympathized primarily with the Arab side and those who said they sympathized with both Arabs and Israelis.

9. The loss of 100+ cases is principally due to the investigator's decision to ask questions about political behaviour only of registered voters, thus screening out non-citizens. The Middle East policy questions generated a significant level of non-response, causing further reduction of the dataset.