Post-Soviet Migration and Diasporas

Milana V. Nikolko is Adjunct Professor at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University, Canada. She has published extensively on social capital formation and conflict in Crimea, and the role of diaspora and horizontal legitimacy in the post-Soviet space.
David Carment is Professor of International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Canada. He is a NATO Fellow and Fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

This book examines the relationship between post-Soviet societies in transition and the increasingly important role of their diaspora. It analyses processes of identity transformation in post-Soviet space and beyond, using macro- and micro-level perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches combining field-based and ethnographic research. The authors demonstrate that post-Soviet diaspora are just at the beginning of the process of identity formation and formalization. They do this by examining the challenges, encounters and practices of Ukrainians and Russians living abroad in Western and Southern Europe, Canada and Turkey, as well as those of migrants, expellees and returnees living in the conflict zones of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova. Key questions on how diaspora can be better engaged to support development, foreign policy and economic policies in post-Soviet societies are both raised and answered. Russia's transformative and important role in shaping post-Soviet diaspora interests and engagement is also considered. This edited collection will appeal to students and scholars of diaspora, post-Soviet politics and migration, and economic and political development.

Introduction. Post-Soviet Migration and Diaspora: From Global Perspectives to Everyday Perspectives; David Carment and Milana Nikolko.- Chapter 1. Diasporas, Development, and Homelands in Eurasia After 1991; Timothy Heleniak.- Chapter 2. Post-Soviet Russian-speaking migration to the UK: the discourses of visibility and accountability; Anna Pechurina.- Chapter 3. Migrant Self-Reflectivity and New Ukrainian Diaspora in Southern Europe: the Case of Portugal; Natalia Khanenko-Friesen.- Chapter 4. Social Consequences of Seasonal Labour Migration: A Case Study from Rural Azerbaijan; Jennifer S. Wistrand.- Chapter 5. Return For Development and Europeanization Among Moldovan Immigrants; Silvia Marcu.- Chapter 6. Transcending Return: The Experience of Making Home in the Republic of Georgia; Ryan Buchanan.- Chapter 7. Jewish Russians, Russian Israelis and "Jewski" Canadians: Youth and the Negotiation of Identity and Belonging; Anna Slavina.- Chapter 8. Russian Speaking Diaspora in Turkey: The Geopolitics of Migration in the Black Sea Region; Tunc Aybak.- Chapter 9. Russian policy Towards Compatriots: Global, Regional and Local Approaches; Irina Molodikova.- Conclusion. Post-Soviet Diasporas: Looking Forward -looking back; Milana Nikolko and David Carment.