Dominant imaginaries of espionage presume that all states surveil their populations but that only the powerful ones can play the “great game” of spying outside their borders. How, then, does a poor postcolonial state spy abroad? Drawing on an ethnography of Arab migrants and jihad fighters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, this essay suggests one answer: powerful states have their spies pose as diplomats, while weak ones exploit their diasporas. This realization takes one step toward demystifying and de-exceptionalizing state intelligence apparatuses and understanding them as socially embedded institutions.

中文翻译：

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来自南方的间谍

间谍活动的主要假想假设是，所有国家都对自己的人口进行监视，但只有强大的国家才能在其境外从事“间谍”的“大游戏”。那么，一个贫穷的后殖民国家如何在国外监视？本文以波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那的阿拉伯移民和圣战战士的民族志为依据，提出了一个答案：有实力的国家以间谍的身份摆在外交官身上，而有实力的国家则以散居侨民的身份从事外交活动。这种认识迈出了一步，以使国家情报设备神秘化和非例外化，并将它们理解为社会上嵌入的机构。