In politics, dual loyalty is loyalty to two separate interests that potentially conflict with each other, leading to a conflict of interest.
Inherently controversial
While nearly all examples of alleged "dual loyalty" are considered highly controversial, these examples point to the inherent difficulty in distinguishing between what constitutes a "danger" of dual loyalty – i.e., that there exists a pair of misaligned interests – versus what might be more simply a pair of partially aligned or even, according to the party being accused, a pair of fully aligned interests. For example, immigrants who still have feelings of loyalty to their country of origin will often insist that their two loyalties do not conflict. As Stanley A. Renshon at the Center for Immigration Studies notes,
Transnationalist interpretations
Some scholars refer to a growing trend of transnationalism and suggest that as societies become more heterogeneous and multi-cultural, the term "dual loyalty" increasingly becomes a meaningless bromide. According to the theory of transnationalism, migration produces new forms of identity that transcend traditional notions of physical and cultural space. Nina Glick Schiller, Linda Basch, and Cristina Blanc-Szanton define a process by which immigrants "link together" their country of origin and their country of settlement. The transnationalist view is that "dual loyalty" is a potentially positive expression of multi-culturalism, and can contribute to the diversity and strength of civil society. While this view is popular in many academic circles, others are skeptical of this idea. As one paper describes it, Beyond its usage in particular instances, the term "dual loyalty" versus "transnationalism" continues to be the subject of much debate. As one academic writes:
Historical examples
Other historical examples of actual or perceived "dual loyalty" include the following:
Jews in the Jewish Diaspora have been accused of dual loyalty by the Romans in the 1st century, by the French in the Dreyfus Affair in the late 19th century, in Stalin-era Soviet Union in the 20th century. Before the creation of Israel, Jewish anti-Zionists used the accusation against other Jews. While today some use the phrase in a "neutral and non-pejorative fashion," this use can obscure the fact that home nations and Israel may have sharp political differences. The 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq lead to such accusations against Jewish neoconservatives, vocal proponents of war against Iraq who allegedly sought to undermine Arab nations hostile to Israel. In 2019, Representative Ilhan Omar was accused of suggesting that pro-Israeli American Jews had dual loyalty towards Israel.
The loyalty of many Americans to the U.S. government was called into question during the Cold War due to alleged Communist sympathies, resulting in "witch-hunts" of various government officials, celebrities and other citizens.
Muslims living in Western countries, especially during periods of heightened tensions, such as after September 11, 2001, or during the Danish Cartoon Controversy of 2005–2006, are sometimes accused of being more loyal to the Muslimummah than to their country.
"Dual loyalty" continues to be a concern of critics of the U.S.'s immigration policy, particularly in those states which border Mexico.
The Ahmadiyya movement in Islam has been accused of dual loyalty, to the British, Israel and sometimes India. In particular, it is sometimes alleged that the movement itself was started by the British to divide the Muslims and that in the modern times the members of the movement are agents of Israel.
The government of Iran accuses the Bahá'í minority of having loyalty to foreign powers.
