Constructing a Tibetan demos in exile.

This article explores how displaced Tibetans demarcate and characterize the Tibetan demos in the process of building a democratic community and a government-in-exile. In this democracy-in-exile, defining the demos is not only a means of representing a people, but also a means of regaining a lost homeland. Two specific instances of the construction of a transnational exile demos are investigated: citizenship and political representation. The Tibetan Government-in-Exile's formalized idea of citizenship builds upon ideals of equal and loyal members who form a single unit bounded by a common cause. This also constitutes the foundation for Tibetan citizens' political representation in the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. The parliament's definition of the demos enhances regional and religious adherence as essentials for determining who the Tibetan people are. The article refers to problems regarding how this construct, which defines who is included into the demos, inevitably means that some are excluded as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]