Digital Diasporas and Human Rights: Strengthening National Governments

Research and Event Summaries

Project Abstract

Conventional wisdom holds that globalization, and its specific contributing factors, such as immigration, information technology, and the emergence of universal values that inform international law, poses a challenge to state sovereignty. This paper analyzes this assertion by examining one case, which encompasses each of these factors. Following a review of the literature, this paper describes the efforts, using information and communication technologies, of the Egyptian Copt diaspora to advocate for human rights and improved quality of life of Copts residing in Egypt. We conclude that while the theory and practice of state sovereignty are certainly evolving and increasingly complex, the essence of state sovereignty is not necessarily challenged by these trends and may even be supported by them.

Faculty

Lori A. Brainard, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration, The George Washington University
Jennifer M. Brinkerhof, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration, The George Washington University

Events

Digital Diasporas, Identity, and International Policy Processes (DIP)2
Globalization Brown Bag, November 2003

Publications

Digital Diasporas and International Development: Afghan-Americans and the Reconstructions of Afghanistan
Occasional Paper, CSGOP-02-23

Globalization, the Internet, and the Voluntary Sector: the Emergence of Cyber-Grassroots Organizations
Occasional Paper, CSGOP-03-25

The GW Center for the Study of Globalization
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Email: gwcsg@gwu.edu • http://gstudynet.org/