Beyond Dutch Borders
Transnational Politics among Colonial Migrants, Guest Workers and the Second Generation
Distributed for Amsterdam University Press
Migrants often remain loyal to their former homelands and stay active in the politics there— despite widespread criticism of these ties in their host countries. Combining extensive fieldwork with quantitative data, Beyond Dutch Borders compares how transnational political involvement among guest workers from Turkey and postcolonial migrants from Surinam living in the Netherlands has evolved during the past fifty years. The author explores the dynamics and influence of such dual affiliations and finds that migrants’ border-crossing loyalties and engagement actually heighten their political integration into their host countries.
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Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
Transnationalism in migration studies
The emergence and evolution of transnational politics
Transnational actors, activities and ties
Surinamese, Turkish and Kurdish migrants in the Netherlands
2. Individual transnationalists
Respondents' backgrounds
Interest in Dutch and homeland politics
Societal participation
Electoral sympathies
From mother to daughter, father to son?
Opportunities in the Netherlands
Conclusion
3. Migrant organisations and transnational politics
Civil society, networks and political participation
Surinamese organisational networks in the Netherlands
Turkish and Kurdish organisational networks in the Netherlands
Conclusion
4. Surinam: Student activism to transnational party politics
Political history
Returnees
Military rule
Post-colonial democracy
Conclusion
5. Turkey: Labour migration to transnational party politics
The political landscape
Transnational party politics
Diş Türkler (‘Turks abroad’)
Turkish-Dutch politicians
Conclusion
6. Kurdish diaspora politics
The rise of Kurdish nationalism
Illegal Kurdish parties
Pro-Kurdish and Kurdish parties
PKK mobilisation in Europe
Kurdish parties in the Netherlands
Conclusion
7. Conclusion: Looking both ways
Surinamese
Turks
Kurds
Explaining transnational politics
Appendices
Appendix A: Methodology
Appendix B: Surinamese political parties
Appendix C: Family trees of Turkish and Kurdish political parties, 1920s–2005
Notes
References
Index
Sociology: General Sociology
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