The topic of the diaspora is very important in Serbia. From the Declaration (2006) to the Law on the Diaspora (2009) and the Strategy developed (2011), they all identify the diaspora as one of the key potential drivers for Serbia’s development.

The main ways identified are investment, human capital, remittances and hometown infrastructure development. The one thing lacking has been a systematic, apolitical approach to the topic. Within the policy framework, Serbia has remained on the point of a “declarative beginning” for a decade now. It has not been able to overcome the sociopolitical approach to the diaspora from the previous eras.

The issue of how to develop a continuous developmental and successful relationship to bring diaspora development “home” has actually never been addressed. What matters are the problems in the system and how to solve them in a context-specific way for the state, local actors, the diaspora, not through abstract proposals and foreign model frameworks that do not work in the Serbian environment.

Our research was focused on a qualitative approach, covering four dimensions (or, as we defined them, “frameworks”) of analysis: the institutional framework, the regulative framework, the social-political framework and the business diaspora framework.