The Danish Diaspora: A Potential Contribution to Danish Society?

Abstract

This thesis aims to explore The Danish Diaspora. To explore The Danish Diaspora, the assumption that a country's diasporas can be seen as a network, is made. The flows within a network are assumed to be corresponding to diaspora capital flows which is why The Diaspora Wheel is being used to analyze the results of the data. To find the networks, data has been gathered on people with Danish affiliation, living around the world, who are actively engaged in different Danish-related groups and activities. There are numerous of these groups, but one group is specifically interesting, the Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassadors, as they are strategically organized to create flows towards Denmark. By using data from their website, it was possible to determine how they contribute to Denmark by creating flows. First, potential GWA diaspora capital flows were analyzed on a global basis, which showed that 53,4% are people flows, knowledge flows are 28,8% and financial flows are 17,8%. Second, by zooming in on USA it was possible to see which states and industries the potential flows were coming from, which showed that most of the potential flows were coming from the tech industry and California. To figure out what sorts of diaspora capital flows The Danish Diaspora can contribute with, a report carried out by The Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassadors and Danes Worldwide was used. The report shows that most foreign Danes are willing to contribute to the Danish society. By zooming in on the US it is shown that there are multiple groups who can create different flows to Denmark, however there is no entity which facilitates this. Ultimately, this thesis suggests that there is a need for a broker to facilitate and strategically organize The Danish Diaspora