What Drives Diasporas to Engage with Their Home Country? The Lebanese Diaspora in the US

Abstract:

The Lebanese diaspora is one of the largest globally and has been characterized as strongly influencing Lebanon’s economic, political, and social landscape. I assess this diaspora community’s relationship with Lebanon based on an original subpopulation theory. I propose that immigrant engagement with their home country varies based on within-diaspora characteristics—such as time of emigration, religion, and relative economic status. I test my theory both qualitatively and quantitatively, conducting interviews with over twenty members of the Lebanese diaspora in the United States in conjunction with survey data. The results show that certain diaspora characteristics do indeed influence home country engagement. I find that religion as well as time of arrival into the US strongly influence a diaspora individual’s engagement with Lebanon. My findings also present implications for the behavior of the worldwide Lebanese diaspora as well as mark a contribution to the broader field of diaspora studies that seeks to better understand the activities of immigrant communities as they interact with their countries of origin.