The Eritrean Diaspora Opposition Movements : Obstacles and Challenges

The content of this thesis concentrates the reasons which disable the opposition organizations not achieving their goal to change the authoritative regime in Eritrea. First, the thesis focuses on the transnational Eritrean political organizations/civil societies reality in their role in regime change. The thesis is part based on the theory of social constructivism with the purpose of studying to which the collective transnational activities of organizations regarding the reaction on the imposed Eritrean Government policies and mechanisms on the Eritrean diaspora. Because the thesis contends that government employ different mechanisms to hinder effective mobilization of the diaspora. Secondly, the thesis analysis explores the divisiveness and fragmentations among the diaspora Eritrean opposition political and civic organizations and its impacts, that they would not play a significant role in instigating a transition in the country from outside. The study advances understanding of transnationalism by demonstrating how states exercise coercive power across borders and the conditions under which diasporas mobilize to challenge home publicly and collectively -country regimes. It explores the transnational strategies and tools used by Eritrean authoritarian regime to govern and exploit its diaspora through strategies that include coercion, co-optation, and legitimation by taking advantage of patriotic feelings. The thesis situates itself within this relatively recent, yet quickly growing body of literature on the role of a regime in transnational process; it has increasingly become marked by control and coercion aimed both disabling mobilizing capacity of the opposition and prolonging the regime’s staying in power. The Eritrean diaspora that I address in this study includes two generations of migrants/asylum-seekers. The first are those who escaped conflict and violence during the independence war from 1961 until 1991, when Eritreans fought Ethiopia occupation. The second generation are exiles who fled violence, political oppression after Eritrean independence. A big number fled most after 2003 because of the government’s decision to extend military and national service conscription indefinitely. A case study was analysed namely the purposed Eritreans mobilize their forces and posed substantial challenges to the state and supporters of the government. Regarding the problem statements and the chosen theoretical approach, several findings are made, that government employ different mechanisms to hinder effective mobilization of the diaspora. At the same time, to date the Eritrean political opposition has failed to hammer out its differences and establish an all-embracing organization and consolidated alternative to the existing regime. The thesis seeks to critically analyse the post-independence transnational mechanism and strategies that was employed by the Eritrean government and highlights its implication in the Eritrean diaspora opposition movements. As a methodology, a qualitative strategy and the research drew on existing scholarly work abductively to develop an interview guide, the qualitative data was first collected in semi- structured interviews to gain a fine-grained view. In theory framework the concepts of diaspora and transnationalism has been delivered. This research takes the form of an abductive single case study and draws on interviews as primary source and existing literature as secondary source