Transnational Networks and Policy Diffusion: The Case of Gender Mainstreaming

How can we account for the global diffusion of remarkably similar policy innovations across widely differing nation-states? In an era characterized by heightened globalization and increasingly radical state restructuring, this question has become especially acute. Scholars of international relations offer a number of theoretical explanations for the cross-national convergence of ideas, institutions, and interests. We examine the proliferation of state bureaucracies for gender mainstreaming. These organizations seek to integrate a gender-equality perspective across all areas of government policy. Although they so far have received scant attention outside of feminist policy circles, these mainstreaming bureaucracies—now in place in over 100 countries—represent a powerful challenge to business-as-usual politics and policymaking. As a policy innovation, the speed with which these institutional mechanisms have been adopted by the majority of national governments is unprecedented. We argue that transnational networks composed largely of nonstate actors (notably women's international nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations) have been the primary forces driving the diffusion of gender mainstreaming. In an event history analysis of 157 nation-states from 1975 to 1998, we assess how various national and transnational factors have affected the timing and the type of the institutional changes these states have made. Our findings support the claim that the diffusion of gender-mainstreaming mechanisms has been facilitated by the role played by transnational networks, in particular by the transnational feminist movement. Further, they suggest a major shift in the nature and the locus of global politics and national policymaking.     

The G20 and Global Justice: The Potential of Transnational Deliberative Democratic Theory

The G20’s capacity to promote global justice is up for debate. This article contends that the G20 has both problems and possibilities with respect to helping advance global justice. The potential of the G20 to promote global justice stems from its importance as a site for deliberation of policy ideas and its recent efforts to promote greater outreach and engagement with societal interests and states outside its narrow membership. Ultimately, G20 policy discussions could be more effective if its processes were more deliberative and better considered questions of justice and the perspectives of people affected by its decisions. The article utilises a transnational application of deliberative democracy theory to outline this potential. It attempts to identify this potential by drawing a practical balance between the normative importance of justice and the contemporary reality of the G20’s purpose and function.     

"认识共同体"与全球气候制度

20世纪80年代以来,以气候变化为核心的全球环境问题开始成为一项国际政治议程.本文简要叙述了公众的关心、科学的发展和经济的繁荣三个促使全球环境问题成为国际政治问题的因素,分析了全球气候制度谈判中出现的问题及其原因,最后根据建构主义国际关系理论着重分析了"认识共同体"如何影响政治领导层的偏好,促使其重新定义收益,旨在阐明,要建立真正行之有效的全球气候制度,必须改变传统的理性主义收益观,而建构主义则可能是一种可行的思维.     

全球治理中跨国倡议网络有效性的条件分析

本文旨在分析跨国倡议网络在全球治理中发挥有效性的条件。作为全球治理的一个重要层次,跨国倡议网络在提出新议程、影响国家政策、建立和传播国际规范等方面发挥了重要作用。本文借鉴社会运动的理论,提出政治机遇结构、动员结构和框定是跨国倡议网络有效性得以发挥的三个重要条件,并以小武器国际行动网络的案例对此进行了验证。     

Transnational Networks and Global Environmental Governance: The Cities for Climate Protection Program

The past decade has witnessed a growing interest among scholars of international relations, and global environmental governance in particular, in the role of transnational networks within the international arena. While the existence and potential significance of such networks has been documented, many questions concerning the nature of governance conducted by such networks and their impact remain. We contribute to these debates by examining how such networks are created and maintained and the extent to which they can foster policy learning and change. We focus on the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) program, a network of some 550 local governments concerned with promoting local initiatives for the mitigation of climate change. It is frequently asserted that the importance of such networks lies in their ability to exchange knowledge and information, and to forge norms about the nature and terms of particular issues. However, we find that those local governments most effectively engaged with the network are mobilized more by the financial and political resources it offers, and the legitimacy conferred to particular norms about climate protection, than by access to information. Moreover, processes of policy learning within the CCP program take place in discursive struggles as different actors seek legitimacy for their interpretations of what local climate protection policies should mean. In conclusion, we reflect upon the implications of these findings for understanding the role of transnational networks in global environmental governance.     

国际气候治理规范的演进与传播：以印度为案例

国际气候治理的关键在于形成国际气候治理规范并传播到各个国家,使之被国际社会普遍接受和切实遵守。从国际层面上看,需要各个国家积极地参与国际气候谈判,建立气候治理共识;从国内的视角来看,需要国际气候治理规范落实到国家层面,对国内政治产生积极影响。国际规范和国内政策环境的契合程度是决定规范能否在国家内得到有效传播。由于国际政治与国内政治的分离与差异,二者的完全契合的并不多见,因此,国际规范的传播过程往往也是双方相互建构的过程,在这个过程中,国际规范和国内环境都不是一成不变的,国际规范发生着变化,国家行为也在规范的影响下发生变化。在气候谈判中,印度政府不断的重申“共同但有区别的责任”原则,强调本国远低于发达国家的人均排放量。但是随着气候谈判的深入以及气候规范传入国内后引起国内利益的分化,印度的气候立场有所调整,反映了在气候问题上的新认识。     

From Finances to Transnational Mobility: Searching for the Global Jihadists' Achilles Heel

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to uncover a primary source of vulnerability in the global Jihadist terrorist network. It offers a critical examination of the traditional money lead for countering global Jihadist terrorism, and concludes that in this case, it is not the most effective method. Rather, the concept of transnational mobility, both as it relates to socialization into and professionalization within the Jihadist network, is identified as the lifeblood of the network, and thus an arguably more appropriate focus for countering strategies. Issues surrounding travel document security are analysed within an overarching dichotomous framework of offensive/defensive counter-terrorism strategies, emphasizing the need for active penetration by intelligence forces into the terrorist networks and relevant mobility-related realms.     

全球清洁能源治理的跨国主义范式——多元网络化发展的特点、动因及挑战

作为应对气候变化、能源危机和环境污染等问题的综合性解决路径,清洁能源利用在各国的迅速崛起推进了国际社会对于全球能源秩序变革以及全球清洁能源善治提出新的诉求。在发展实践中,全球清洁能源治理日益呈现出一种基于多元主体参与且呈网络性拓展互动模式的跨国主义范式。本文基于对三种全球治理范式的理论探讨,深入分析了全球清洁能源治理的多元网络化路径及其特点。全球气候能源战略格局转型、国家间互动中清洁能源的去地缘化属性以及私营部门的兴起从不同层面推动了治理的多元网络化进程。但这一进程也受到多元治理格局碎片化、体系中的南北分割以及治理的再地缘化等现实挑战的阻碍。在此研究基础上,为中国更好地参与全球清洁能源治理提供前瞻性的建议,从而提升中国在国际气候能源治理中的话语权和能动性。     

Analogy and Authority in Cyberterrorism Discourse: An Analysis of Global News Media Coverage

This article explores constructions of cyberterrorism within the global news media between 2008 and 2013. It begins by arguing that the preoccupation with questions of definition, threat and response in academic literature on cyberterrorism is problematic, for two reasons. First, because it neglects the constitutivity of representations of cyberterrorism in the news media and beyond; second, because it prioritises policy-relevant research. To address this, the article provides a discursive analysis drawing on original empirical research into 31 news media outlets across the world. Although there is genuine heterogeneity in representations of cyberterrorism therein, we argue that constructions of this threat rely heavily on two strategies. First, appeals to authoritative or expert “witnesses” and their institutional or epistemic credibility; second, generic or historical analogies, which help shape understanding of the likelihood and consequences of cyberterrorist attack. These strategies have particular discursive importance, we argue, given the lack of readily available empirical examples of the “reality” of cyberterrorism.     

The Nordic–Baltic Area: Divisive Geopolitics at Work

States in the Nordic–Baltic area reacted heterogeneously to the Iraq War operation: Denmark chose to participate; Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania supported the operation diplomatically or materially; whereas Norway, Finland and Sweden were negative. The research tool used to explain this pattern is the parsimonious theory of ‘past and present geopolitics’, taking issue with systemic neorealism, primarily. In spite of official rhetoric emphasizing Baghdad or New York (the UN), states’ driving forces were mainly found in their different salient environments. The primary explanation, proximate power balancing, was at work regarding Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Iceland, with no big neighbour, could enjoy profit bandwagoning, while Sweden and Finland followed ‘standard operating procedures’. A minor aberration from expectations is noted regarding Finland: its EU balancing rather than US balancing of Russia. The Norwegian ‘no’ and Danish warfare were both an expression of geopolitical freedom of manoeuvre.     

Global Energy Governance: Trade,Infrastructure, and the Diffusion of International Organizations

Why do states choose to join and form international governmental organizations (IGOs) that regulate energy policy? In this article we make three specific contributions to the literature on international cooperation and diffusion. First, we show that countries form and join energy IGOs in response to memberships previously gained by direct competitors among oil and gas producers and consumers. Moreover, we demonstrate that energy IGOs diffuse among countries that share oil and gas pipelines. Finally, we provide evidence that the institutional design of established energy IGOs impacts the development of their membership network. To test these hypotheses, we rely on original data on oil and gas pipelines and the design of energy IGOs as well as on a newly compiled dataset that includes 152 countries and covers 38 years (1970–2007). We employ both network analysis and spatial econometrics.     

The Promise of Transnational NGO Dialogue: The Argument and the Challenges

Over the past few decades, a vast body of literature has emerged that strives to conceptualise transnational relations between non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This article explores this debate by mapping out two theoretical approaches that can be broadly defined as an ideational and a materialist approach. Particular attention is paid to the different ways in which one can understand the mutual impact of NGOs operating domestically and transnationally. The paper argues that combining the insights from both approaches improves our understanding of NGO dialogue.     

达尔富尔问题与中国话语权——评《全球视野下的达尔富尔问题研究》一书

由浙江师范大学非洲研究院执行院长刘鸿武教授和中国社会科学院西亚非洲研究所李新烽博士主编的《全球视野下的达尔富尔问题研究》(下称《研究》)一书,于2008年10月由世界知识出版社出版发行.     

Enemy of Humanity: The Anti-Piracy Discourse in Present-Day Anti-Terrorism 1

The impact of the cease fire is addressed by examining the geography of troubles-related fatal incidents since 1985. This provides a period of 9 years both before and after the cease fire for comparison. The substantial decline in violence in Northern Ireland as a whole has a clear geographical pattern, with the rural nonmetropolitan zone experiencing a much steeper fall than Belfast and elsewhere. This is explained in terms of two factors. One is the relative rate of decline of killing by Republicans and Loyalists, while the other is the spatial variability of this decrease for each of these two perpetrator categories.     

Not in Anyone's Backyard: The Emergence and Identity of a Transnational Anti-Base Network

Providing an overview of the emergence, characteristics, trajectory, and potential limitations of the transnational anti-base network, this article focuses on two broad questions relevant to transnational politics. First, what processes and mechanisms enabled local and transnational activists to form the international No Bases network? Second, how did activists juxtapose existing local anti-base identity and frames to emerging transnational ones? Following existing transnational movement theories, I argue that the global anti-base network slowly emerged through processes of diffusion and scale shift in its early stages. The onset of the Iraq War, however, injected new life into the transnational anti-base movement, eventually leading to the inaugural International Conference for the Abolition of Foreign Bases in 2007. Although loose transnational ties existed among anti-base activists prior to 2003, the U.S. war in Iraq presented anti-base activists the global frames necessary to accelerate the pace of diffusion, scale-shift, and brokerage, and hence, the consolidation of a transnational anti-base network. Paradoxically, however, even as No Bases leaders attempted to forge a new transnational identity, anti-base activists, as "rooted cosmopolitans," continued to anchor their struggle in local initiatives.     

"Small Peoples": The Existential Uncertainty of Ethnonational Communities

This exploratory paper attempts to extend the boundaries of research on the "smallness" of polities. It introduces the concept of "small peoples," a term coined by Czech author Milan Kundera to denote communities that lack a "sense of an eternal past and future." The paper posits "small peoples" as ethnic communities characterized by prolonged and deep-rooted uncertainty regarding their own existence. I argue that in modern times, "small peoples" doubt the validity of their past-based ethnic identity and the viability of their future-driven national polity . Empirically, I analyze two distinct "small peoples"—Israeli Jews and French Canadians (Québécois)—and argue that while the former have been more concerned with the future survival of their polity, the latter have been more concerned with insecurity about their identity. The paper suggests that a focus on communities and their intersubjective processes can enrich the study of states and their objective state.     

Transnational Firms and the Knowledge Structure: The Case of the Walt Disney Company

This paper demonstrates how the study of knowledge can strengthen the analysis of transnational corporations and globalisation through the case of the Walt Disney Company. Disney is emblematic because its prosperity is founded on both global and intergenerational reception, integration and consumption of its products and its imageries. Its transnational preponderance is observed by taking into account its socio-economically grounded power, its intertwined material and ideational universes and its multilayered knowledge structuring. Based on cultural studies methods, world-economy theories and sociological conceptual tools, we assess the Disney Company's ability to structure collective imagination, to orient behaviour and to favour new practices through its media contents, its entertainment activities and its diversified by-products. Consequently, this makes it possible to consider the material and ideational extent of the power of the company. Finally, the specific aspects of the knowledge structure are stressed, particularly its inherent inertia, its geo-cultural dynamics, its co-evolution with material structures and its polarisation around specific symbols, narratives and objects. By doing so, this research contributes to the intersection between the new field of Cultural Political Economy and International Political Economy in the context of globalisation of ideas and identities.     

Creating Demand for Global Governance: The Making of a Global Money-laundering Problem*

In most studies on global governance, problems are treated as exogenous factors. Even constructivist global governance approaches normally concentrate on persuasion about global norms and rules, but take the existence of global problems as given. This ignores the fact that it may be necessary to persuade rule addressees of the existence of a problem in the first place. States comply with global rules voluntarily only if they agree that there is a problem. Hence international rule makers have to “problematise” the issue they attempt to regulate, i.e. to construct the issue as a global problem that requires global rules in order to be solved. This article inquires into the why and how of “problematisation” by international regulators. To this end it reconstructs how the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has turned the issue of money-laundering, which was not considered a problem until the late 1980s, into a global problem requiring a global solution.