ABSTRACT
This chapter examines complicated form of interrelationship involving the Duty of Care (DoC): that of a state and its diasporas. It discusses the broader implications of seeing diasporas in relation to DoC. The chapter explores the interlinkages between the competing forms of citizenship and state sovereignty at display in large parts of contemporary Europe and elsewhere, and focuses on potential dislocation between state and national identity in International Relations. It describes how protection of diaspora and contested forms of non-civic citizens can be legitimized. The terms ‘diaspora’ and ‘compatriots’, often used interchangeably, can thus mean multiple things in the rhetoric of the government: ethnic Russians, Russian-language post-Soviet citizens, all post-Soviet citizens and/or Russian by nationality. In the separatist regions in Georgia, many Russian ‘compatriots’ had been granted Russian citizenship prior to the Russian government’s invocation of their protection in 2008.
