ABSTRACT
There is increasing interest today in the relationship between diaspora groups and international development. As a stand-in for the domestic organisation in Keck and Sikkink’s model of a ‘transnational advocacy network’, diasporas serve as important sources of legitimacy and first-hand knowledge to support the ‘information politics’ of host country ngos; in turn, diasporas gain access to policy making around development and conflict resolution. But these alliances present a complicated picture of power and agency with unevenness across actors. Using field research on the US-based ngo Save Darfur Coalition and its partnership with the Darfuri diaspora, I argue that a host country ngo must balance its relationships across numerous stakeholders, including the diaspora, as well as short and long-term development needs. In addition, the strength of the alliance across actors may be influenced by the status of the diaspora and the home and host country contexts.
