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This paper contributes to International Relations studies on the (de)legitimation of global governance institutions by introducing a focus on substance-oriented (de)legitimation practices to complement existing legitimacy-oriented perspectives. Building on the distinction between performance and performativity, the paper clarifies the concepts of performing (de)legitimation as legitimacy-oriented and performative (de)legitimation as substance-oriented. It argues that while the former primarily aims to contest or establish legitimacy, the latter targets substantive outcomes but affects legitimacy as a by-product. The paper introduces three distinguishing criteria – orientation toward legitimacy or substance, focus on form or function, and justificatory or substantive manifestation – to differentiate between the two. Their empirical manifestation is illustrated through a case study of the United Nations' open-ended intergovernmental working group on business and human rights, which highlights the role of complexity and how it can serve both sets of (de)legitimation practices by contributing to legitimacy and substance, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary international organizations (IOs) are routinely portrayed as being more accessible to a wide variety of actors than ever before. The recent hyper-institutionalization of youth in international politics testifies to this pluralization, at least quantitatively. This paper traces the historical emergence of youth as an object of concern among health IOs. Covering a period of over 50 years, we analyse semantic fields surrounding youth and find that young people have primarily been portrayed as society’s future capital in development discourses or as a risk-prone group in the context of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. Only since the beginning of the 21st century can we trace portrayals of youth that emphasize rights, inclusion and engagement in global health. Our study addresses an empirical research gap on youth in global health and prompts us to critically re-evaluate the optimistic liberal assessments that have marked International Relations (IR) theories on the ‘opening-up’ of IOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper analyses the Brazilian foreign policy towards the war in Ukraine, from the tensions preceding the invasion until the first half of the war's second year. Since the conflict began, Brazil was governed by two sharply contrasting administrations, neither of which clearly aligned with one side of the conflict. It is argued, however, that while Bolsonaro assumed an inert attitude, Lula undertook a proactive non-alignment. As proposed by this forum, this article presents three counterfactuals, exploring how the Brazilian position could have been different, and outlines future perspectives based on three uncertainties: (1) will Brazil be recognized as a viable mediator? (2) will Brazil explicitly choose a side in the conflict?; (3) will Brazil continue to be engaged with this agenda? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how practices of (de)legitimation deal with regime overlaps by invoking the convergence or collision of norms, rules and procedures in regime complexes. It brings together two strands of International Relations literature – the concept of regime complexes and (de)legitimating practices in global governance institutions – to analyse the UN Treaty Process as a case study in the field of business and human rights. It makes three main arguments. The first is that regime complexes can be characterized by the concomitance of a collision and convergence of norms, rules and procedures. Second, regime overlaps and the collision of norms and rules may appear within a single international institution. Third, norm collision and convergence are inferred in (de)legitimation practices that characterize contestations in regime complexes. The UN Treaty Process demonstrates convergence and collision as (de)legitimation in light of the UN Guiding Principles (intra-organizational overlap) and the European Union (inter-organizational overlap). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an interpretation of the ideology expressed by Jair Bolsonaro, current president of Brazil, as a Brazilian far-right neoliberal nationalism, which typically distinguishes between the members of the nation and its traitors and enemies, creating an authoritarian atmosphere of governance combined with the defense of neoliberal values. To establish the bases that sustain this ideology, we investigate four key arenas of his administration – family issues; the anti-left rhetoric; the call for a mixed-race identity; and Brazilian foreign policy. We sustain that Bolsonaro's discourse, instead of revealing a fragmented political project, actually articulates a powerful and authoritarian image of the Brazilian nation, while also reinforcing the idea of individual entrepreneurship and traditional morality. Although this project is deeply informed by past national ideological traditions, it is also aligned with the expansion of the far right internationally and sheds light to its dynamics in periphery countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how a deeply embedded norm can be used to exert power and control in the governance of distributed infrastructures, such as the Internet. Through the lens of norm conflict, I analyse a case of resistance against the introduction of norms in the transnational governance of Internet routing. In a mixed-methods case study, I examine through an experiment how a community of network operators resists the introduction of data protection and human rights norms in the Internet routing infrastructure. To provide a possible explanation as to how a prevalent and deeply embedded norm enables the resistance to the introduction of new norms, I develop the notion of 'infrastructural norms'. This concept could help explain why Internet infrastructure governance thus far has largely defied national and international democratic norms. The understanding of how norms are used in infrastructure governance contributes to the study of power in large technical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to theorize the nation's Janus-like form, its simultaneous modernity and antiquity? This paper provides an original answer to this longstanding question. It argues that nations arise from the interaction of 'societal multiplicity' and the expansionist tendency of historical capitalism. The emergence of capitalism super-adds a modern inflection to the inherently relational process of collective identity formation by generating modern sovereignty as an abstract form of rule. Crucially however, just like its emergence, capitalism's expansion also refracts through societal multiplicity. Non-capitalist societies are therefore pressured into 'nationalist' projects of emulative self-preservation in which the nation's political form (i.e. the sovereign state) is forged before its sociological content (i.e. primitive accumulation). Thus, the original site of this process, France, produced the modular nation-form that unlike Britain's imperial nationhood could be globalized. The paper therefore shows that IR's premise of multiplicity may be the key to one of social sciences' most enduring puzzles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the discipline of International Relations (IR) to the ideas of Che Guevara and their legacy in world politics. As one of the most famous revolutionaries of all time, Che's legacy is complex, multifaceted, and deeply political. His thought carries across many concerns central to IR theory, especially decolonialism and anti-imperialism, offering a unique radical Marxist-humanism focused on revolutionary praxis. This paper explores Che's writing and speeches, arguing that the most important aspects of Che's legacy do not reside in his contemporary romanticization but in Che's emphasis on class analysis as a means to interrogate neo-imperialism in world order and thereby expose the possibilities for a genuinely internationalist (or cosmopolitan) politics of emancipation leading to a decolonized, self-determining world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the territorial and logistical factors surrounding the leasing of the Greek port of Piraeus to a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned enterprise COSCO, this paper responds to calls to investigate variations in experiences of precarity. The article is based on research conducted in 2014 when the container processing area at Piraeus was divided between two terminals: the first run by the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) and the second run by COSCO's subsidiary Piraeus Container Terminals (PCT). By contrasting the threatened unionized labour regime at OLP with the highly precarious labour conditions at PCT, the paper asks how the operative dimensions of capital condition precarity's intensification and spread. In this light, precarity emerges not simply as a form of labour insecurity or an unevenly shared condition of human vulnerability but as a relational nexus that links questions of political economy to matters of subjectivity, space, power, and governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notwithstanding stereotypes of Russian apathy, long-term field research reveals that there have always been grassroots and labour protests in post-Soviet Russia, even as the shock of ultraliberal reforms led to mass precariousness and social disorientation. However, the social mobilizations that do occur are scattered, weakly publicized and mostly small-scale. This paper conceptualizes them as 'everyday activism', that is, an activism embedded in everyday life experience and pragmatic sense. Only recently, and in a paradoxical relation to the populist and patriotic Kremlin discourse, some new trends have emerged towards other popular variants of the new discourse that includes social equality claims and what the paper calls 'social critical' populism. However, this populism from below does not automatically lead to mass mobilization, although it provides the necessary background for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the international activities of trade unions in Turkey and the influence of the AKP government policies on these activities between 2002 and 2018. It addresses the question of the limits of the influence of international organizations in social mobilizations in an authoritarian context. The first part puts forward the conceptual framework and discusses existing literature. The second part explains how the international relations of the Turkish trade unions are influenced by government policies. The third part focuses on the sectoral level in order to analyse the concrete consequences of this transformation in different industries. This paper is based on the fieldwork conducted between 2012 and 2016 in Turkey composed of 111 interviews with trade union representatives and observations at the three main Turkish trade union confederations, completed by 12 interviews with IndustriAll, ETF, EFFAT, ETUC representatives in Brussels in April 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The securitization of development theme has developed substantially since the late 1990s within the critical global governance literature. To varying degrees, contributors to this debate argue that a liberal global governance complex links the discourses of security and development in what is described as the ‘security–development nexus’, such that the South is conceived as an international security threat. Whilst the security–development nexus itself has been thoroughly explored, the use of the central concept of liberalism has not. This paper addresses this issue through demarcating and critiquing the three readings of liberalism relevant to the securitization of development debate. Identifying and elucidating the three distinct strands of liberalism enable this paper to identify several weaknesses within the debate and propose a number of amendments. This includes proposing that the liberal discourse of global governance reflects complexity rather than consensus and that the centrality of ‘liberalism’ is at the expense of a robust investigation into how the structural power of global capitalism underpins the security–development nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discussions of decolonizing world politics have flourished in international studies recently but few of these engage with popular culture, especially sports. In this paper, I address this gap and consider sports - specifically the sport of cricket - as a global phenomenon, useful for discussing key decolonizing strategies. This paper argues that cricket, as a form of popular culture, offers language and practices to critique oppressive sociopolitical norms and global hierarchies. It draws upon the cricket-writing of C.L.R. James, specifically his book Beyond a Boundary, as well as on the experiences of playing cricket to outline some decolonial strategies. These strategies include shifting perspectives on world politics, the role of biography and autobiography as critique, and the relevance of positionality in describing global processes and in the construction of knowledge. Overall, this paper claims that popular culture, especially those which are popular in the Global South, offers ways to rethink and rework relations between the powerful and less powerful. Cricket provides examples of ways in which these various decolonial strategies can be enacted in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital communication technologies have given dissidents from authoritarian contexts better opportunities to pursue political activism from exile. After the exit from their home country, activists stay involved in domestic debates and channel politically relevant information to international audiences, building up external pressure on the regime. Yet, at the same time, digital media and social networks create multiple points of exposure that state actors can exploit. Using the case of Iran, this paper shows how digital communication technologies enable new and influence established tactics of state repression beyond borders. Based on interviews with Iranian activists and journalists who were forced to leave the country after the controversial elections of 2009, I analyze mechanisms and aims of repressive measures targeting exiled dissidents. I argue that in an environment of intense transnational communication and information exchange, authoritarian regimes can monitor and respond to the activities of political exiles rapidly and on a large scale. State actors seek to undermine the links of exiles into the country (horizontal voice) as well as to punish claims to public attention that challenge the regime’s position in the domestic and international arenas (vertical voice). With these measures, authorities pursue a parallel strategy: expanding authoritarian power and practices beyond borders while distancing political exiles from contacts in the home country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the broad scope of literature on globalization, this paper provides a synoptic reading of some of the globalization literatures, organized as ‘discourses’. The analysis of the discourses on globalization is confined to three overlapping discourses, namely, regional, ideological and economic discourses. Specific references and examples of local uptake of globalization will be drawn from Singapore and the wider Asia pacific region, as Beck (2002) has reminded us that we cannot even think about globalization or discuss it effectively without the reference to specific locations and places. Hence the subtitle of this paper, ‘A View from the East’, is deliberate to signal the often forgotten fact that Singapore, as well as the wider Asia Pacific region, is ‘part of the “global” sphere that the West has dispersed itself into’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International actors, state and non-state, have embraced transparency as a solution to all manner of political problems. Theoretical analyses of these processes present transparency in a fetishtic manner, in which the social relations that generate transparency are misrecognized as the product of information itself. This paper will outline the theoretical problems that arise when transparency promotion is fetishized in International Relations theory. Examining the fetishism of transparency, we will note the problematic conceptions of politics, the public sphere, and rationality they generate. Confusing the relationship between data, information and knowledge, fetishized treatments of transparency obscure the historical dynamics responsible for the emergence of transparency as a political practice. This alters our understanding of the relationship between global governance institutions, their constituents, and the nature of knowledge production itself. Realizing the normative promise of transparency requires a reorientation of theory towards sociologically and historically sensitive approaches to the politics of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Globalizations is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper focuses on the global governance of migration and the problem of migrant representation and migration-related problems within its framework. It concerns an analysis of the participation of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the summit of Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) which took place in Istanbul in 2015. The authors analyse the Turkish chair’s presentation of migration-related problems and how this relates to the representation of migrants in Turkey by Turkish CSOs. Thus, the 2015 GFMD in Turkey is utilized as a case to reflect upon problems of representation. Furthermore, its democratizing potential as an informal, multi-sited framework for deliberations on new global migration governance avenues is recognized. Based on the participant observation, the authors maintain a critical stance concerning the inherent problems of the GFMD framework as a space for representing civil society in general and migrants and their organizations in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has seen the emergence of a global migration governance architecture. But while - unlike other ‘objects’ of global governance - migrants are able to speak for themselves, only limited participatory space has been reserved for them in global processes. In reaction to this glaring democratic deficit, migrant organizations try to challenge and bring about change in the nascent global migration regime. Drawing from neo-Gramscian approaches, this paper analyses the various political spaces where a cluster of migrant rights organizations and ‘networks of networks’ express and organize resistance and counter-hegemonic discourses to the current paradigms within global migration governance. Particularly, this article focuses on two spaces of organizing: the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR), held by the International Migrants Alliance (IMA), and the Churches Witnessing With Migrants (CWWM) wherein temporary labour migrants, often referred to as ‘birds of passage’, form a large part of their constituency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goals, norms, and rules negotiated and implemented by the private sector are one of the global governance approaches under debate for regulating land grabbing. This paper looks at two private governance instruments that are especially relevant: the Equator Principles (EPs) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB). Both instruments promote and introduce sustainability meta-standards in the decision-making and risk management process of signatory firms, financial institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with regard to land use and access. And they aim to govern two sectors of international investment, namely biofuels and project finance, that are associated with highly land consuming economic activity. Against the background of key features, the paper concludes that the imprecise and voluntary nature, lack of effective sanction and compensation mechanisms, and bias towards client interests highlight that both governance approaches provide insufficient protection of communities or the environment in weak regulatory settings and in view of the intense commercial pressure on land. Las metas, normas y reglas negociadas e implementadas por el sector privado, son uno de los enfoques de la gobernanza global bajo debate, para regularizar el acaparamiento de tierras. Este artículo analiza dos instrumentos privados de gobernanza que son especialmente relevantes: los Principios del Ecuador (EPs, por sus siglas en inglés) y la Mesa Redonda sobre los Biocombustibles Sostenibles. (RSB, por sus siglas en inglés). Ambos instrumentos promueven e introducen meta-estándares de sostenibilidad en el proceso de tomar decisiones y el manejo de riesgo de las empresas signatarias, instituciones financieras y organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONG) con respecto al uso y acceso de la tierra. Y ellos apuntan a gobernar dos sectores de inversión extranjera, particularmente los biocombustibles y la financiación de proyectos que están asociados con una actividad económica de gran consumo de tierras. Contra el antecedente de las características claves, el artículo concluye que la naturaleza imprecisa y voluntaria, la falta de sanción efectiva y los mecanismos de compensación y la parcialidad hacia los intereses del cliente, hacen resaltar que los dos enfoques de gobernanza proveen una protección insuficiente a las comunidades o al medio ambiente en los entornos reguladores débiles y en vista de la intensa presión comercial sobre las tierras. 私营企业谈判和实施的目标、标准、规则是规范土地掠夺争论下全球治理的途径之一。本文研究了两种关联尤为密切的私营治理手段：“赤道原则” (EPs)与“可持续燃料圆桌会议”（PSB）。对于土地使用，这两种手段在签约公司、金融机构与非政府组织的决策与危机管理过程中都促进与引入了可持续发展的元数据标准。而且它们旨在管理与高度土地消费经济活动相关的国际投资的两个部门，即燃料与项目融资。在主要特征的背景下，本文认为，不确切、自愿性质、缺乏有效制裁与补偿机制以及对客户利益的偏见强调指出，这两种治理手段在薄弱的监管环境及土地上强烈的商业压力方面都没有提供充分的社区或者环境保护。 تُعتبر الأهداف والقواعد والأحكام محل التفاوض أو التطبيق من جانب القطاع الخاص، من بين مقاربات الحوكمة العالمية موضع الجدل بشأن تنظيم الاستيلاء على الأراضي. وتبحث الورقة الحالية وثيقتين للحوكمة الخاصة وهما: المبادئ المحققة للمساواة، ومناقشات المائدة المستديرة بشأن وقود حيوي مستدام. وتطرح الوثيقتان معايير للاستدامة في عملية صنع القرار، وعملية إدارة المخاطر في الشركات والمؤسسات المالية والمنظمات غير الحكومية، فيما يتعلاق باستغلال الأراضي والحصول عليها. كما تهدف الوثيقتان إلى فرض الرقابة على قطاعين في الاستثمارات الدولية، وهما الوقود الحيوي وتمويل المشروعات، فكل منهما مرتبط بنشاط اقتصادي ذي استهلاك زائد للأرض. وفي خلفية من هذه الملامح الرئيسية، تستخلص الو&#x631 민간 영역에 의해서 협상되고 실행되는 목표, 규범과 규칙은 토지 매입을 규제하기 위한 논쟁에서 지구적 거버넌스 접근들 중 하나이다. 이 글은 특별히 적절한 두 개의 사적 거버넌스 도구인 <적도 원칙>(Equator Principles, EPs)과 <지속가능한 바이오연료 원탁회의>(Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, RSB)를 분석한다. 두 기구는 토지 사용과 접근과 관련하여 서명에 참가한 기업, 금융기관과 비정부 기구들의 의사결정과 위험관리 과정에서 지속가능성 메타 기준을 홍보하고 도입하였다. 그들은 국제 투자에서 바이오 연료와 프로젝트 파이낸스 두 부분을 관리하는 것을 목표로 하고 있고, 두 부문은 대단히 많은 토지를 사용하는 경제활동이다. 이 글은 거버넌스 접근이 부정확하고 자발적인 성격, 효과적인 제재와 보상 기제의 부재, 소비자 이해에 대한 편향을 지니고 있으며, 커뮤니티에 대한 불충분한 보호나 약한 환경 규제와 강한 토지에 대한 상업적 압력을 제공한다고 결론을 맺는다. Цели, нормы и правила, согласованные и реализованные частным сектором, являющиеся одним из глобальных подходов к управлению и регулированию захвата земель, встает на повестку дня. Эта статья рассмотрит два частных инструмента управления, которые особенно актуальны: «Принципы Экватора» (EPS) и Круглый стол по устойчивому биотопливу (RSB). Оба инструмента продвигают и вводят мета-стандарты устойчивости в процессе принятия решения и управления рисками подписавшихся фирм, финансовых учреждений и неправительственных организаций (NGO) относительно землепользования и доступа к земле. Они предназначены для управления двумя секторами международных инвестиций, а име&# [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Are we observing the emergence of a global civil society or a counter-hegemonic movement able to challenge the forces of neoliberal globalization? Is 'Another World' really possible and in the making, as World Social Forum (WSF) participants have suggested? Who could lead the movement toward a more just, democratic, and ecological world order? A growing number of scholars and activists are grappling with these questions. However, these questions mask other important aspects of transborder activism and political moments of resistance. Examining various cases of transborder activism in the Americas, this paper highlights the value and limits of a range of studies on contemporary forces promoting sociopolitical change, especially in the field of international political economy (IPE). The paper draws from field research and incorporates insights from activists' own situated knowledge to highlights the unexpected developments and political imaginaries that may emerge in the public realm during events like counter-summits or the World Social Forum (WSF) processes, for instance. ¿Estamos observando la emergencia de una sociedad civil global o un movimiento contra-hegemonico capaz de retar las fuerzas de la globalizacion neoliberal? Y es posible, como sugirieron los participantes del Foro Social Mundial (FSM), ¿“Otro Mundo” en formacion? ¿Quien podria liderar el movimiento hacia un orden mundial democratico y ecologico? Un numero creciente de academicos y activistas estan enfrentandose a estas preguntas. Sin embargo, estas preguntas enmascaran otros aspectos de activismo transfronterizo y los momentos politicos de resistencia. Examinando varios casos de activismo transfronterizo en las Americas, este articulo subraya el valor y los limites de un rango de estudios sobre fuerzas contemporaneas que promueven el cambio sociopolitico, especialmente en el campo de la Economia Politica Internacional. El articulo extrae de la investigacion de campo e incorpora el propio entendimiento profundo de los activistas para destacar los desarrollos inesperados e imaginarios politicos que puedan emerger en el ambito publico, como por ejemplo, durante los eventos, como en las cumbres opuestas o en los procesos del Foro Social Mundial (FSM) [image omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Globalizations is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A conflict between the local and the global is built into the contradiction of being a linguistic animal, at once bound by one's bodiliness to the local and able to conceptualize (and therefore to act) far beyond it. The paper considers some of the effects of this conflict, before proceeding briefly to examine four interrelated but distinct terms: universal, international, cosmopolitan and global. This paper was originally delivered as a lecture given at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's conference ‘Navigating Globalization: Stability, Fluidity and Friction’, sponsored by the NTNU Globalization Programme held in Trondheim, Norway, August, 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws from cultural studies, postcolonial studies and political economy to track the trafficking in racism and sexism in the cultural economy of contemporary globalization. It approaches this by looking at how global modernity is enacted by Thais and Westerners in Thailand. The author argues that the pursuit of global modernity in Thailand leads Thais to invite and embrace global modernity's racist and sexist core, thereby constituting their self-orientalization. Globalization's racist and sexist economy of desire is shown to be manufactured and retailed by both global and local corporations and to operate in international education, public health, the mass media and public culture. The paper is based on a decade of participant observation and field research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper raises the question where contemporary civilization is heading: toward imperial domination or cosmopolis? The process of globalization has brought into view the contours of a global empire of unprecedented dimensions (often labeled ‘pax Americana’). The paper traces the formation of this new imperial structure, accentuating its conflictual relations both with domestic democracy and the prospect of a broader ‘cosmopolitan’ democracy. The chief focus of the paper is normative: it seeks to sort out the arguments typically advanced in support of empire or else in opposition to it. To profile contemporary arguments more sharply, the paper presents a comparison with the argumentative strategies surrounding the early-modern Spanish Empire. As the comparison shows, the most prominent justification used by defenders of empire is the claim of civilizational benevolence (‘white man's burden’) backed up by the asserted need to control backward peoples, if necessary by military means. What differentiates the contemporary situation from the Spanish example are the immense advances in technological and military sophistication; in addition, new theoretical resources have become available (drawn often from Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Nietzsche). After recounting the chief arguments of empire's opponents (from Las Casas to Enrique Dussel) the paper ends with a plea for a more interdependent global commonwealth—though not a tightly unified or blandly homogeneous cosmopolis but one where interdependence is nurtured by local and regional centers of political agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of 'civilization' has been employed in contradictory ways--as an ideological tool, as an analytical category and in reference to a long historical journey. In light of its ideological abuses, is 'civilization' as an analytical category capable of salvation? This paper takes a fresh look at an old problem. If 'civilization' is still a useful category of analysis, are such partitions as the East and the West valid in the context of an emerging global civilization? If not, how can we reconceptualize the common journey toward a more civilized world order? The paper argues that human civilization is an imaginary fuelled by changing technologies, mythologies and communication carriers. The transitions from nomadic to agrarian, commercial, industrial and informatic civilizations may be considered as higher orders of differentiation, complexity and integration. If so viewed, the journey appears as a single but uneven and self-contradictory movement. In our own epoch, the global reach of informatic technologies necessitates an integrating myth such as the Gaia Hypothesis, viewing the Planet Earth as a single living organism transcending all boundaries. That myth would teach us to value human unity in diversity. However, the current pathologies of commodity and identity fetishism, expressed in state and opposition terrorism, are obstructing peaceful globalization. 'We are the finest race in the world, and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race' Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902), quoted by Bentley and Ziegler (2003, p. 933) 'Today backward and deprived, we face an economic and military giant with the moral and spiritual scruples of a flea. It is not a pleasant encounter.' Sadeq al-Mahdi, Prime Minister of Sudan (1966-1967) 'Civilization as we know it, is a movement not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor'. Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975), 1948 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert W. Cox's dictum that '(t)heory is for someone and for some purpose' (emphasis in the original) is said to be the most-quoted line in International Relations (IR) theory. Yet whilst this spurred a revolution in critical thinking in IR, it echoed a far older conception of Critical Theory advanced by Max Horkheimer in the 1930s that claimed there is 'no theory of society … that does not contain political motivations'. Both sentiments emphasize the relation between knowledge and human interests, and yet both formulate two distinct-though allied-ways of approaching 'critical' theorizing. In order to understand the similarities and differences in their approaches, this paper draws out three loci of difference between Cox and Horkheimer regarding the question of emancipation: (i) the epistemological relation between 'critical' and 'Problem-Solving' (Cox) or 'Traditional Theory' (Horkheimer); (ii) the emphasis placed on transformation and historical process; and (iii) the importance of intersubjectivity in how each approach emancipation. It is argued that by actively combining critical (dialectical) approaches across the social sciences, broadening human agency through civilizational dialogue, and retaining a commitment to emancipatory (and visionary) political futures based on human association, that Critical International Theory can maintain ongoing relevance in IR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert Cox developed a potent approach to studying world orders that is premised on the capacities of a special intellectual, the critical theorist, to discern social structures and the possibilities for their radical change in the future. While acknowledging the ethical appeal of adopting this intellectual persona, in this paper we are concerned with the style of historiography that it requires. In particular, we argue that the imperative to discover and foster the beginnings of social change leads to a version of philosophical history that will likely produce systematic anachronism. This is not uncommon in the discipline of International Relations, but in the case of Cox it stands in tension with some of his avowed intellectual sources, especially the work of Giambattista Vico, and with the aim of providing critical historical perspective on the present. We argue that Vico stands as an example of an alternative historical-empirical line of research that would better serve Coxian ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent years, R.W. Cox has distanced himself from some genealogical connections made by his followers in regard to what he meant in his famous 1981 article. Was he mischaracterized, framed? This paper focuses on how Cox has been 'framed', a concept elaborated and used across social sciences in different contexts. Here, it is used to look at different mechanisms by which ideas, such as those of Cox, can be connected, 'framed' to other ideas, not only to advance knowledge but to strengthen individual careers, to strengthen and construct approaches and disciplines. Framing highlights and creates a space but also constrains and obscures. Cox deserves to be seen outside any frames other than the one he creates for himself, one which is changing and developing as does the real world, not captive to any approach, paradigm, discipline, or any other frame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located in northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) rules over an autonomous province in Iraq. Constitutionally, ‘Kurdistan Region’ is not independent, but empirically the KRG behaves as if it is a sovereign entity. With an elected parliament, a president, a prime minister, a cabinet, a flag, a national anthem, schools taught in Kurdish, and a booming economy, the ‘Kurdistan’ embodied by the KRG clearly exists empirically while unrecognized internationally. In this paper, I examine the rise of the KRG as an agent in international relations since the first Gulf War in 1991. I argue that foreign policy as a field of conduct and discourse has been central to the KRG's effective agency. In my analysis, I employ and interrelate Robert Jackson's work on ‘quasi-states’, Doug McAdam's argument on ‘political opportunity structures', and Giorgio Agamben's discussion on ‘indistinct zones of politics’ as in Iraq and the Middle East. Ultimately, I contend that while less than a full state in constitutional legal form, the KRG is more than a quasi-state in substance.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines the ways in which global-local flows interpenetrate each other and mesh, simultaneously undermining and empowering the forces of local resistance, using the Niger Delta as a case study. It explores the response of local resistance groups to 'globalization from below', by appropriating global structures and tapping into transnational networks to empower their identity, rights, and claims in the oil-rich, but impoverished Niger Delta. Space is conceptualized as the transnational multiscalar social terrain of power, which is critical both as a site of struggle and as expression of the global logic of oil capital. Applied to an explanation of the globalization of extraction and resistance in the oil-rich Niger Delta, this article posits that a lot will depend on the balance of power between the social forces in the region, the oil multinationals, and the Nigerian state, and the capacity of the forces of resistance to tap into and creatively use existing transnational space(s) and discourses to push an agenda of social emancipation and grassroots democracy. Este articulo examina las maneras como los flujos locales y globales se interpenetran entre si y engranan, debilitando y fortaleciendo simultaneamente a las fuerzas de la resistencia local, usando el Delta del Niger como estudio de caso. El mismo explora la respuesta a la resistencia de los grupos locales a la 'globalizacion desde abajo', mediante la apropiacion de estructuras globales y sacando provecho de las redes transnacionales para fortalecer sus identidad, derechos y demandas en el Delta del Niger, rico en petroleo, pero empobrecido. El espacio se ha conceptualizado como un terreno de poder social trasnacional y multiescalar que es critico para ambos sitios de conflicto y como expresion de la logica global del capital del petroleo. Este articulo hace referencia a una explicacion de la globalizacion en la extraccion y la resistencia del Delta del Niger, rico en petroleo y postula que mucho depende del equilibrio del poder entre las fuerzas sociales de la region, las multinacionales del petroleo y el estado de Nigeria, y la capacidad de las fuerzas de resistencia de beneficiarse y creativamente usar el(los) espacio(s) y tratados para promover la agenda de emancipacion social y democracia de base. [image omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of international institutions and policy makers advocate for the potential of globalization to deliver on the promises of development, and have reorganized development and poverty reduction strategies in a comprehensive way. This is reflected, for example, in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and Millennium Development Goals (MDG) initiatives. These strategies are globally constituted, although they are to be implemented within national domains as national development strategies. From this perspective, globalization and development are conceptualized in ahistorical terms, while methodologically the approach remains corroborated by the formal comparative method. I argue that a critical re-evaluation of the formal comparative method is necessary not merely to rectify a methodological problem, but also to expose the politics of methodological choices. The formal comparative method is inextricably underpinned by temporal and spatial delineations that reproduce a particularly problematic analytical framework with significant political implications, not least because it obscures the globally constituted social dimensions of struggles for recognition and redistribution. Un gran número de instituciones internacionales y funcionarios responsables de tomar decisiones apoyan el potencial de la globalización para cumplir con las promesas de desarrollo y con haber reorganizado el desarrollo y las estrategias de reducción de la pobreza de una manera más amplia. Esto se refleja por ejemplo, en las iniciativas de PRSP (Documentos Estratégicos para la Reducción de la Pobreza, por sus siglas en inglés) y de MDG (Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio, por sus siglas en inglés). Estas estrategias se han constituido globalmente, sin embargo son para implementarse dentro de los dominios 'nacionales'. Desde esta perspectiva, la globalización y el desarrollo se han conceptualizado en términos no históricos, mientras que metodológicamente, el enfoque permanece corroborado por el método comparativo. Yo sostengo que una reevaluación crítica del método comparativo es necesaria no solamente para rectificar un problema metodológico, sino más bien para exponer la política de las opciones metodológicas. El método comparativo es inseparablemente sustentado por delineaciones temporales y espaciales que reproducen un esquema particularmente analítico problemático que sufre de implicaciones políticas; cuando menos porque oscurece las dimensiones sociales constituidas globalmente de luchas para el reconocimiento y la redistribución. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the legitimacy of the global order depends not on economic progress alone, but on the progressive naturalization of its epistemological foundations, through 'new solutions' to old problems by states and development agencies. New solutions become methods of social control through which the dominant visions of what count as viable futures are reproduced. We critique efforts to humanize development (e.g., by the World Bank, Amartya Sen) as evidence of development's epistemological crisis. Deploying Karl Polanyi's distinction between formal and substantive economy, we consider examples of substantive economy, which realize equality through strategic sovereignty and representational power, in collective and individual terms. These represent practical and epistemological 'spaces of hope' for critique of the crisis of the market epistemology that infects development studies and international relations. Este documento sostiene que la legitimidad del orden global no depende solamente del progreso económico, sino de la naturalización progresiva de sus fundamentos epistemológicos, a través de 'nuevas soluciones' a problemas antiguos mediante estados y agencias del desarrollo. Las nuevas soluciones se convierten en métodos de control social, a través de los cuales se reproducen las visiones dominantes de lo que cuenta como futuros viables. Criticamos los esfuerzos de humanizar al desarrollo (p.e. Banco Mundial, Amartya Sen) como evidencia de la crisis del desarrollo epistemológico. Utilizando la distinción de Kart Polanyi entre economía formal y economía sustancial, consideramos ejemplos de una economía sustancial, la cual realiza la igualdad por medio de una soberanía estratégica y un poder representativo, en términos colectivos e individuales. Estas, entre otras iniciativas, representan 'espacios de esperanza' prácticos y epistemológicos para criticar la crisis de la epistemología de mercado que infecta a los estudios de desarrollo y las relaciones internacionales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the theory and practice of nation-building. This is done primarily in an effort to explicate how area studies (AS), development studies (DS), and international studies (IS) have been, and continue to be, embedded in international security and economic/development policy processes and questions of national sovereignty, international relations, and global governance. The central argument is that at this world-historical juncture the nation-state system (and the pursuit of modernity via the nation-state) is one of the key obstacles to the achievement of a genuinely emancipatory modernity in an era of global oligopolistic capitalism centered on US hegemony. The analysis followed here challenges the way in which the nation-state, and the nation-state system, remain central to and continue to be routinized and naturalized by the dominant discourses within AS, DS, and IS... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Given the incredible diversity of the anti-globalization movement, developing inclusive and participatory spaces is an enormous challenge. Inequities in power, resources, and experience between Northern and Southern activists are of particular concern to a movement that values democratic participation. Dialogue is seen as a critical new way of addressing conflicts within the movement. For three decades, women's organizations dealt with similar issues at the UN World Conferences on Women. It was not until the 1990s that a global women's movement emerged. This paper, which is based on a qualitative study of women's peace organizations gathered at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in 1995, addresses the development of positive coalition dynamics. The focus on individual activist stories fills in gaps left by studying organizations as units of analysis or on transnational movements as a whole. My research shows that if transnational activists use constructive approaches, conflict can assist in building coalition dynamics necessary for effective and equitable cooperation. I conclude that a commitment to respond to conflict in a constructive manner is as important for coalition building as formal processes or mechanisms that foster dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environment was cast in global terms at least as early as the late 1940s. Ever since, the meanings of environmental globalization have changed to reflect broader developments in the world political economy and the ability of various social forces to frame these developments. In the first part of this article, I discuss my understanding of globalization in order to undermine the facile framing of the environment in globalized terms. This is followed by the main part of the essay, which traces some of the key framings of the global environment since World War II in order to highlight the shifting conceptions of the globalized as well as the politics behind them. I close by very briefly outlining some of the implications of the globalization discourse on our understanding of the environment. The twin goals of this paper are to contribute to the discussion of the environment as a globalized issue as well as to the debates over globalization, more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently several proposals for more effective, democratic and just forms of global governance have been put forward. In this paper I compare the proposals by the United Nations Development Programme, the International Labour Organization and cosmopolitan democrats like David Held. I assess to what extent they are in accordance with cosmopolitan views of global justice and I critically evaluate to what extent they may be feasible interim steps. The conclusion is that even though some proposals are more radical than others, they all leave in place the current institutions of an international order based on sovereign nation-states, global capitalism and its resulting inequality, and models of development as based on maximizing economic growth. If cosmopolis is to replace empire in the international system, then these certainties need to be open for discussion, too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tension between state logic and capital logic plays out in the contemporary world in terms of coerced appropriation mediated through global state economic governance institutions. These include the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund which are under the guidance of liberal institutionalist regime builders following an expansionist capital logic. At the same time as they take a leading role in such rule setting, the American elite deploy military force as an imperial state actor. This paper explores how these strategies both engender cooperation and resistance on the part of local elites who both bend imposed neoliberal norms to their own benefit and organize to bargain as regional actors against the world's hyperpower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that two key ‘moments’ can be used to indicate the changing nature of anti-globalization politics. The first was the protests at Seattle in 1999, the ‘coming out’ event for the movement. The second was the ‘war on terror’ in response to the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001. I argue that Seattle and the war on terror represent two ways of thinking about contemporary globalization. The first can be linked to notions of transnational capitalism and Empire, the second to notions of imperialism. The paper therefore deconstructs these concepts, relating them to the concrete politics of anti-globalization. The first section critically discusses the transnational capitalism thesis, while the second section examines the concept of imperialism. The third section then attempts to integrate the critical account in the first two sections. It defends the idea that globalization is in some respects a contingent process, but contrary to some accounts (the ‘half tale’) it is also one with dominant centres of power. Finally, the political implications are discussed, where I outline two positions based on globalizing resistance and anti-imperialism. I suggest that these positions are not mutually exclusive, but also that one does not neatly fit into the other, and that progressive politics operates both within and between local, national and global spaces. This argument is addressed in the conclusion in the context of the debate over the war in Iraq, the role of the United Nations, and the principle of cosmopolitanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

† Fred W. Riggs is professor emeritus in political science, University of Hawaii. Since retiring from teaching, he has been promoting an understanding of political and administrative problems usually ignored by comparativists through numerous papers and publications, plus the launching of a global network of concerned scholars and practitioners: the Committee on Viable Constitutionalism (COVICO). He has recently focused his energy on the increased violence of ethnic nationalism around the world and the need for viable constitutional democracy in order to replace civil war with non-violent politics. He has organized a global network for liaison officers of the major groups, organizations and committees promoting research on ethnic problems, and has created a Web site to support this activity. Most recently, he has been studying globalization as a contemporary process with far-reaching causes and consequences, especially in relation to the problems of democratization as it evolves when military authoritarianism or one-party dictatorship collapses--see DEMOGLO and the Forum for Global Studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In arguing for the twin projects of globalizing history and historicizing globalization, this paper locates the development of historical scholarship in its own historical context. For the most part, professional historical scholarship has focused on the experiences of national communities and has taken European modernity as the principal guide to the understanding of the world's various societies. In the interests of enhancing understanding of the world and its development through time, there is a clear need to globalize history and historicize globalization. From ancient to contemporary times, several distinct interests--notably those of empire, business and mission--have driven or at least informed efforts to understand the larger world. Since World War II, the production of knowledge about the larger world has come largely through area studies scholarship, which itself has clearly reflected the interests of contemporary states. While area studies projects have experienced remarkable success in developing reliable information and constructing meaningful knowledge about the larger world, it has become clear that scholarship focusing exclusively on individual states or local communities is inadequate for purposes of understanding large-scale globalizing processes that have touched many peoples and influenced the development of individual societies, as well as the world as a whole. Following up on this recognition, recent scholarship in world history suggests that globalization has a very long history indeed. In combination, the projects to globalize history and historicize globalization promise to yield an enriched understanding of the world and its development through time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, much has been made of the idea that under conditions of globalization, more and more people in different parts of the planet conceive of themselves as part of a 'global society' or 'global culture'. Often it has been alleged that forms of consciousness centred around a disposition to see one's own life as a single part of the 'world as a whole' are relatively recent products. In this paper we argue that such tendencies, or something very much like them, in fact were present in the ancient Mediterranean world. We examine how ways of thinking and feeling, that bear in certain ways close correspondence to modern ideas as to 'globality', were prevalent amongst certain social groups in the Roman empire. Those persons regarded themselves as part of a world that was rapidly shrinking through increasing levels of political, commercial and other modes of interconnection between its geographically disparate parts. By examining these ancient attitudes, we demonstrate an important aspect of the pre-history of modern sensibilities as to the nature of a 'globalizing/globalized world'. Moreover, by attending to ancient evidence as to 'global' attitudes and 'global consciousness', one may begin to overcome the presentism implicit in many contemporary accounts of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stressing that the shrinking of time and distance has led to multiplying boundary-spanning activities in diverse realms of life around the world, this paper suggests that unfortunately long-standing disciplinary habits and professional orthodoxies inhibit inquiries into the multidisciplinary nature of globalization. It argues that, in effect, there are many globalizations, but only one international relations in the sense that investigators of world affairs are too rooted into treating the state or the society as bounded and terminal entities to explore the full range of phenomena that presently mark world affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critical scholarship within the International Relations and Comparative Politics scholarship continues to challenge the conventional view that upheld the extractive sector in developing countries as the space where global technocratic norms take root irrespective of socio-economic bargains and contestations. Through an in-depth account of the politics that augment the implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Public Interest and Accountability Committee in Ghana's oil industry, this article joins this fast-growing literature by tracing the localized dynamics of norm diffusion. It combines the analytical lenses of governed interdependence and contentious politics, alongside critical interpretations about the pathways of norm diffusion in Africa, with data compiled from field interviews and documentary sources to identify the complex dynamics that have sustained the localization of global norms in the country's extractive industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transboundary conservation is a strategy developed by international conservation organizations to safeguard biodiversity along and across borders and to enhance peace-building among nation-states and border communities. Currently, there are over 200 transboundary conservation cases worldwide, suggesting that the strategy is a significant yet under-researched area in International Relations. Based on empirical research and mapping, this article examines the relationship between transboundary conservation and international relations in the case of the Maya Forest, which refers to the tropical rainforest borderlands between Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. By analyzing transboundary conservation and its international relations, the article reveals how the strategy reinforces nature states. As a strategic complex composed of heritage sites and biosphere reserves, the Maya Forest is constructed as a shared biocultural landscape. However, national borders are simultaneously fostered by internationally adjoining protected areas to maintain the status quo. In conclusion, this strategy assists in building complex and subtle environmental international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) represents the most dramatic regional departure from neoliberalism under Latin America's pink tide, based on principles of anti-imperialism, mutual development, and barter exchange. Since 2015 however, trade and social programmes between member countries have deteriorated, while regional support for ALBA has declined. In order to account for the rise and relative fall of ALBA-TCP, this article mobilizes the theory of social property relations to trace the international, regional and national forces and structures that have shaped the development trajectory of the ALBA since its creation in 2004. It argues that ALBA's characteristics are principally constituted through concrete class formations, struggles and institutional resolutions that shape the pattern of ALBA's international relations. Ultimately, the contradictions of ALBA's social base with its uneven insertion into the broader international division of labour has created a series of tensions and roadblocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction to this Special Issue reflects on both the multiplicity of Latin American (LA) regionalism and the theoretically pluralist terrain of contemporary scholarship on LA politics and international relations. The introduction will first outline the complexity of twenty-first century LA regionalism and the challenge this poses for scholars in the field. Secondly, we make the case for an 'integrative pluralism' approach to unpacking the multiplicity of regionalisation projects, from both above and below. In bringing together diverse perspectives to a common research problem, we hope to contribute to ongoing debates in IR/IPE over the 'pluralist turn', and what might be done to push this collective project forward. Thirdly, we briefly explore the multi-scalar nature of region-building, encompassing both various spaces/scales as well as political actors. Finally, we outline the contributions to the Special Issue, that span the terrain of LA regionalism from above (political institutions) and below (transnational movements). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 30 years, Hollywood movies have gone from making a majority of their money domestically to making a majority of their money internationally. This significant shift is underappreciated in scholarship such as International Relations research on soft power. This article argues that, counterintuitively, a growing global audience for Hollywood movies has diluted any soft power effect for the United States by globalizing their production and inducing content changes related to both setting and genre. In a globalized world, the connection between hard and soft power is more complicated than is traditionally understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars in the field of International Relations increasingly pay attention to interorganizational cooperation. Currently we know, however, more about why international organizations cooperate with one another and have only a rudimentary understanding of the ways in which this cooperation is established. To shed light on this 'blind spot' in the literature, we draw on the linking pin concept, which originated in organizational studies and has more recently been applied to International Relations where its definition and value-added remain nonetheless unclear. Based on an analysis of security-related cooperation among humanitarian NGOs, we illustrate the merit of this concept and further refine it. We show that the different roles that linking pins play and the interplay between them and their organization are key in the initiation of interagency cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]