De l'État-nation au monde transnational. Du sens et de l'utilité du concept de diaspora

Abstract

From the Nation-State to the Transnational World. Meaning and Usage of the Concept of Diaspora. Dominique Schnapper. The dispersion of peoples who retain a feeling of unity despite their geographic fragmentation is not phenomenon of modernity. But the birth of nationalist movements and the construction of modern nations have given it a new significance that is essentially pejorative in nature. Today, in the opposite sense, the weakening of the Nation-state's power and of national patriotism has provided a positive perception of the behaviors and identifications related to the existence of diasporas. The concept has, as such, always been marked by the spirit of the times. To render it operational, let us reserve it for the populations that maintain institutional, objective or symbolic ties beyond the borders of Nation-states. Its utilization permits, then, questioning of a number of modern phenomena : the weakening of Nation-states, the increased transnationality from all natures of exchanges, the elaboration of new forms of political organization, the amplified dissociation between political and economic orders, and the identifications to the historic collectivities that are not organized in the form of the State. But are we capable of using it in a neutral manner in order to make it a useful instrument of knowledge ? Can we, more so than others, resist the current approach to diasporas ?

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