The Ties That Bind: A Study of Diaspora Engagement Policies in Ghana

Sammanfattning: The present study concerns itself with an aspect of the migration-development debate that has heretofore been surprisingly neglected in academic research. While migrants’ transnational engagement have drawn much attention, the corresponding outreach undertaken by emigration states to actively ‘court’ the diaspora has until recently escaped notice. This study advances the theoretical and empirical knowledge of so-called ‘diaspora engagement policies’, i.e. strategies implemented with the purpose of facilitating and encouraging the involvement of emigrants in the homeland. It contributes theoretically by presenting an analytical framework where these policies are classified into political, economic, and cultural brackets and also evaluated according the their degree of engagement. The framework is subsequently used to structure an empirical analysis of diaspora policies implemented by state institutions in Ghana. The study finds a remarkable range and prevalence of this kind of policies worldwide and it also shows that there has been a significant rapprochement in the most recent decade between state institutions in Ghana and Ghanaians overseas, in particular when it comes to political engagement. The Ghanaian policies of inclusion are more or less isolated instances of inclusion however, and are pursued in an ad hoc manner.