Diaspora Politics and Transnational Terrorism: An Historical Case Study

Abstract

In recent years, the terms transnationalism and diaspora have both become the focus of increased academic attention. Subsequently, the question has arisen as to how expanding theories surrounding transnationalism—which include an ever wider class of actions, processes and institutions that cross the boundaries of states—affect the ways in which both diaspora and diaspora communities are understood. This article examines how the transnational character of one diaspora group—Croatians following World War II—influenced the organizational development of radical émigré separatism, particularly in relation to the strategies of action adopted by some of the more extreme nationalists. The article focuses on how difficulties arising from the fact that the Croatian diaspora existed in ‘landscapes’ as much as ‘lands’ helped define and delimit the repertoires of political action taken up by radicals. The internal and external pressures of being forced to operate in transnational space— including the fractional splintering which resulted from these pressures—helped shape the range of possible development for Croatian émigré organizations, including for some the adoption of violence as an acceptable form of political expression.