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ABSTRACT
Diasporas have played important roles in democratization in their homelands. But how does diaspora mobilization occur when the country of settlement has a small and isolated ethnic community, the host and homeland governments have weak relations, and the conflict is invisible in the geographies of power? Using case study research, I analyse how solidarity groups in the Netherlands facilitated the emergence and growth of diaspora mobilization for democracy in the Philippines during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. My findings show that in cases where exiles and migrants lack pre-existing economic, political and social ties in the host society, solidarity groups can affect the political opportunity structure in the host country, permitting the promotion of certain claims and demands in the public sphere. Furthermore, diaspora mobilization can develop within the formal organizations or associational networks of solidarity groups.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Without seeking to resolve conceptual debates about the term, I use a definition by Shain (Citation2005, 51–52) who describes diaspora as:
a people with a common national origin who regard themselves, or are regarded by others, as members or potential members of the national community of their home nation, a status held regardless of their geographical location and their citizenship outside their national soil.
2. McCarthy and Zald (Citation1977) refer to individuals and organizations that believe in the goals of the movement as ‘adherents’. ‘Conscience constituents’ are direct supporters of an social movement organization who do not stand to benefit directly from its success in goal accomplishment.
3. In collective action, a ‘political entrepreneur’, often part of a privileged group, is an individual willing to bear the costs of social action irrespective of the position taken by others who are also interested in the action's outcomes (Olson Citation1965).
4. Initiators signal or set in motion an identifiable protest cycle, while spin-offs draw their impetus and inspiration from the original initiator movement (McAdam Citation1995).
5. In comparison to other nationalities, the number of Filipino citizens entering the Netherlands since the mid-1960s was too small to permit separate mention, and until recently, was subsumed under ‘Asian nationalities’ (Muijzenberg Citation2001).
6. Levitsky and Way (Citation2010, 43–44) state that linkage is central to understanding international influence in democratization processes. It encompasses the myriad networks of interdependence that connect individual polities, economies and societies to each other. Six dimensions of linkage are important: economic, intergovernmental, technocratic, social, information and civil-society. Since the Dutch and Philippine states were only minimally connected in two areas (economic and intergovernmental), I characterize their relations as weak.
7. Also called basic Christian communities, these churches at grass-roots level emerged based on the communitarian model of the Church promoted by the Second Vatican Council and inspired by liberation theology in Latin America. The earliest communities were established in Brazil and the Philippines.
8. Luzviminda Santos, interview by Sharon Quinsaat, Quezon City, Philippines, 10 March 2014.
9. In accordance with international law, co-financing agencies cannot support activities that aim to undermine the political independence of a state or to overthrow a legal government (Thieme Citation1992).
10. Filippijnengroep Nederland, ‘Filippijnengroep Nederland’, Filippijnen Bulletin, p. 3.
11. Edgar Koning, interview by Sharon Quinsaat, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 29 October 2013.
12. Luis Jalandoni and Consuelo Ledesma, interview by Sharon Quinsaat, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 3 August 2012.
13. Brida Brennan, interview by Sharon Quinsaat, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 14 October 2013.
14. National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), ‘On the Draft Orientation for NDF Diplomatic Work: Main Points and Interrelation with ESM and OFM Lines of Work’, 7–10 July 1983, Annual International Meeting 5, pp. 1–2.
15. NDFP, ‘On the Draft Orientation for NDF Diplomatic Work: Main Points and Interrelation with ESM and OFM Lines of Work’, 7–10 July 1983, Annual International Meeting 5, pp. 2–3.
16. NDFP, ‘On the Draft Orientation for NDF Diplomatic Work: Main Points and Interrelation with ESM and OFM Lines of Work’, 7–10 July 1983, Annual International Meeting 5, p. 8.
17. NDFP, ‘General Program of European National Democratic Organization’, p. 3.
18. Commission on Filipino Migrant Workers (CFMW), ‘Press Report from Conference on Overseas Filipino Workers, Rome, Italy (November 30–December 2, 1984)’, undated, p. 1.
19. Frame bridging involves the ‘linkage of two or more ideologically congruent but structurally unconnected frames regarding a particular issue or problem’ (Snow et al. Citation1986, 467).
20. CFMW, ‘Initial Recommendations and Comments of the CFMW on the NDF's Proposed European Programme and Structure’, undated, p. 3.