Assessing the European Union's engagement with transnational policy networks on conflict-prone natural resources

Transnational policy networks (TPNs) are attracting greater scholarly interest given their impact on the contemporary conduct of international affairs. While this has been a welcome development for International Relations scholars and provided some preliminary insights, there is a need for more scholarly studies of TPNs that delve into specific issue-areas on a comparative basis. The paper addresses the above need by providing analyses of the role of European Union (EU)-based actors – the European Commission, member states, civil society organizations, and firms – in regulatory frameworks on conflict-prone natural resources such as oil, diamonds, coltan, tin, tungsten, and gold. To that end, the paper draws upon participant observations, interviews with state and non-state actors, and access to primary documents in order to provide a comparative examination of EU-based state and non-state actors within the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and draft EU legislation that seeks to prevent the trade of conflict-prone minerals.     

Setting the scene: the European Union's engagement with transnational policy networks

This article serves as a tool to set the scene in this special issue on the manner in which the European Union (EU) engages transnational policy networks (TPNs). It paints a canvas of the main themes to be treated in articles that span a variety of thematic areas. Six main lines of inquiry are developed to better feed into the various themes covered by the specific articles. The lines of inquiry used include modalities or ways in which the EU influences TPNs around the world, TPNs’ influence of policy and decision-making within the EU, conditions under which engagement between the EU and TPNs can be considered successful, the identity and location of the TPNs, and the utility or otherwise of an EU strategy to weaken or strengthen engagement with TPNs.     

Death of Rationality: The Social Networks’ Factor in Policy Response to Ebola

The sociopolitical role of social networks in public decision-making is far from fully understood. Their fast-pace and elusive nature makes the situation fluid and therefore susceptible to rushed theorization. The emerging dominant view is that social networks increase mass political polarization. A new view proposes that social networks increase harmony and tolerance. By examining the role of social networks in the policy response to Ebola in the United States, this paper suggests that social networks play a dual role: increasing polarization around politically divisive issues and promoting tolerance regarding less contentious issues. The paper also expanded the definition of social networks to include online discussions forums. Using the public choice theory and its rational model as a frame of reference, the study focused on six online forums during the peak of Ebola scare, October 2014 through January 2015.     

Re-measuring left–right: A comparison of SEM and Bayesian measurement models for extracting left–right party placements

This paper demonstrates the relative strengths and weaknesses of SEM and Bayesian approaches to combining different sources of data when estimating latent variables. Data on party left–right positioning collected from party manifestos and surveys of party experts, MPs and voters are used to illustrate the two techniques. Although widely used and accepted, the SEM approach is less useful than the Bayesian approach, particularly when using the latent variable in subsequent predictive estimations.     

Trans‐System Social Ruptures: Exploring Issues of Vulnerability and Resiliency1

This essay takes up a recently introduced term, trans‐system social ruptures (TSSRs), and demonstrates its applicability to understanding ruptures to transnational systems. Using the relationship between Canada and the United States as a focus point, the article differentiates national from transnational system social ruptures. The article goes on to explore national and transnational system vulnerability to and resiliency from TSSRs. The distinction between the two types of TSSRs poses empirical, operational, and policy implications. The objective and subjective emergence of TSSRs as a social problem has much to offer to our understanding of disaster events and future crises. The article closes with several recommendations for theoretical development.     

A generational model of political learning

We propose a mathematical framework for modeling opinion change using large-scale longitudinal data sets. Our framework encompasses two varieties of Bayesian learning theory as well as Mannheim's theory of generational responses to political events. The basic assumptions underlying the model are (1) that historical periods are characterized by shocks to existing political opinions, and (2) that individuals of different ages may attach different weights to those political shocks. Political generations emerge endogenously from these basic assumptions: the political views of identifiable birth cohorts differ, and evolve distinctively through time, due to the interaction of age-specific weights with period-specific shocks. We employ this model to examine generational changes in party identification using survey data from the 1952–2008 American National Election Studies.     

Bringing the ‘economic’ back in;the case of nationalism

Marxism and Nationalism analyses the histroy of thinking on nationalism within classical historical materalism from Marx and engles themselves, through lenin and the Austro-Marxists to Gramsci. While it identifies variations in the degree of reductionism and economism involved, it finds a recurrent distorian due to the underlying errors of Marxist theory itself. The theorist who most escaped from these constraints was Otto Bauer. Nimni's analysis, while rich and suggestive, is however too indulgent towards nationalism itself, and fails to identify the enduring importance of economic factors in the rise of nationalist movements. Itis also mistakenly identifies as specific to marxism a belitting of nationalism that is common to much liberal and sociological thought.     

Civil Society and Violence in India's Northeast

The dominant view of India's Northeast highlights violence as a predominant feature and presents civil society as non-existent. Nevertheless, between a militarily-willed state and violent insurgencies lie very many formal associations and informal networks that organize the space for a civil society. The paper attempts to highlight the existence of such relatively lesser-known institutions of civil society in the region. However, there seem to be differences in the very nature of associations of civil society. Homogenous, intra-ethnic networks of civil society in the rural Northeast seem to be more vulnerable to violence and nationalistic fervour. In contrast, formal associations or inter-ethnic informal networks in the urban Northeast seem to handle conflicts and violence better. While the contents herein are expected to inform public discourses on a fragile region, they might also help challenge popular notions about the potential of an existent civil society in similar regions.     

Corporate Movements in Democratic Brazil: Informal Business Networks,Civil Activism,and Political Influence

Relations between business, state, and civil society in Latin America are conventionally discussed in antagonistic or hierarchical terms. This article challenges this position, developing a qualitative case study tracing the activities of an informal network of Brazilian businesspersons that, over the last three decades, promoted an agenda of sustainability, transparency, and civil society participation. Drawing from concepts in social movement theory, it is argued that a dynamic movement‐like behaviour combining civil activism, organisational entrepreneurship, and fluid political alignment, allowed the group to establish lasting collaborative alliances with core actors in Brazilian democratic politics, and access relevant elite and policy‐making circles.     

Social Context Matters: Predictors of Quality of Life among Recently Arrived Refugee Women-at-Risk Living in Australia

Abstract

Little is known about the predictors of quality of life among refugee women. 104 refugee women-at-risk were recruited within 6 months of arriving in Australia. A structured questionnaire was administered using standardized tools to assess pre-migration trauma, post-migration living difficulties, social capital, social networks, and quality of life. Hierarchical multiple and logistic regressions assessed factors predicting quality of life. Post-migration factors such as low trust in the community, and lack of support from individuals in their social networks predicted poorer quality of life. These findings have implications for community and social programs for refugee women-at-risk.