Diasporas as Non-State Actors Providing State Services: The Example of Lebanon.

While today many would argue that diasporas can be non-state actors as well as interest groups, there is still limited research on the topic. After all, it was only in the past decade that significant scholarly research into the international activities of diasporas was done; similarly, research on the rise of non-state actors is a relatively recent phenomenon. This paper seeks to combine these two areas of research by looking at how diasporas as non-state actors affect politics in their 'homelands'. Specifically, the paper seeks to analyze diasporas in the framework of non-state actors. Drawing on an in-depth, multi-country research project that looks at how the Lebanese Diaspora in three countries (Australia, Canada and the U.S.) participates in the "homeland", the paper will focus on how and when the Lebanese Diaspora has acted and acts in lieu of the state. Tentative conclusions include that the Lebanese Diaspora acts when the state is absent as well as because the various political factions do not want a state built and because sect divisions inside of Lebanon are mirrored in the Diaspora. Whether or not one can generalize beyond the Lebanese case will also be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]