Do Diasporas Contribute to the Persistence of Authoritarian Rule? Responses of Eritrean Citizens Abroad to Transnational Governance

Our research is based on a comparative study of five Eritrean diaspora communities in three democratic countries (Germany, Norway, UK) and in two non-democratic countries (Ethiopia, Egypt). We will conduct semi-structured interviews with Eritreans from different ethnic, religious and regional backgrounds as well as with Eritrean political and civil society activists in the diaspora. We distinguish between members of the established diaspora who left their home country during the independence struggle (1961-1991), second-generation diaspora Eritreans and refugees who have fled from the country in recent years. Our research will be further informed by long-term participant observation and by an in-depth analysis of different Eritrean online media outlets and social media activities of diaspora communities.

Some of our preliminary findings are as follows: we found that although more and more diaspora Eritreans and most refugees feel critical about their home government, they contribute indirectly to the stabilization of the status quo by sending private remittances to sustain their families at home (about 95%) and partially through paying the diaspora tax for various reasons. We also found that the government has developed alternative mechanisms to raise funds (for example by diverting fees for baptisms and marriages by infiltrating Orthodox Church communities). In the course of the data analysis, we reconnected this information to our theoretical framework (coercion, legitimation and co-optation as pillars of authoritarian regimes). We found that democratic host countries are mainly seen as a space where sub-national identities can be expressed freely, unlike inside Eritrea, and that democratic rights are mainly used to form specific identity-based organizations and associations in the transnational Eritrean realm; however, political engagement in the host society is rarely considered as an option. Our assumption that Eritrean opposition parties were rather seen as inefficient and self-centered was affirmed by our respondents. We also found that government supporters, mainly ethnic Tigrinya, frequent pro-government associations and government-sponsored events because they consider it as a means of cultural expression and self-affirmation.