Search

Starting in the 1990s, international organizations (IOs) have created various opportunities of access for civil society to voice criticism. While international relations (IR) scholarship has increasingly addressed the resulting interaction between IOs and civil society with a focus on NGOs, we know little about the particular reactions to IOs' opening up by social movements. This paper analyzes reactions to opening up by a transnational social movement centrally addressing IOs: the Global Justice Movement (GJM). Examining reactions by different groups of the GJM in Europe and Southeast Asia to IOs' opening up, we demonstrate that reactions differ considerably depending on activists' assessments of the nature of opening up. In particular, we identify four pathways of reactions on a continuum from (1) strong cooperation with IOs as a reaction to opening up, (2) temporally limited cooperation with different IOs, (3) a hybrid reaction that combines cooperation with specific IOs with a strong opposition to other IOs in reaction to their opening up, to (4) a continuous rejection of all cooperation with IOs. We show how these different reactions are shaped by activists' perceptions of the quality of the international opening up in conjunction with national and local context factors. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates that such perceptions can significantly change over time depending on experiences of interactions. Reactions to opening up are therefore not predictable on the basis of a movement's shape and resources only, but rather depend on a variety of factors such as the movement's perception of the IO's sincerity in a strategic and consequential interaction, as well as the movement's ideological framework and its history of interaction with institutions at other levels, especially in the domestic realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We live at a time of heightened nationalism on the political right and left, from the mobilization of anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States and Europe, to promoting Palestinian liberation. This article, focusing on Lenin's work concerning imperialism, shows the importance, yet shortcomings of foregrounding the nation in calling for social transformation. The piece reads Lenin's contributions on imperialism, highlighting his understanding of strategy and the dual nature of nationalism, in light of debates within Critical Theory more generally. As I argue, Lenin offers insights for Critical Theorists, particularly on the place of nationalism within transformative political projects, as well as on the dynamics of capitalist accumulation and territorial acquisition. Lenin's work on imperialism draws our attention to the idea that only by mobilizing beyond the state/society binary—which many Critical Theorists and activists reify, sometimes unintentionally—can we explore the nature of emancipatory political action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that we are living through a period when political institutions are out of step with dramatic, economic and social changes. In similar periods in the past, war has often played a key restructuring role. But contemporary wars are much less likely to achieve this. The main agents of change are social movements and new forms of communication. The article concludes that we need new forms of global governance and some critical rethinking of academic discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Late on June 3, 1989, and into the next day Chinese soldiers brought to an abrupt end the 7-week standoff between the Chinese state and students and citizens of Beijing. It has been common to see balance of power considerations as bringing China and the United States together in 1972 to balance against the Soviet Union, and it has been equally common to see the end of what Kissinger called the Sino-American 'tacit alliance' (1972-1989) to be, naturally, the end of the Cold War and/or the breakup of the Soviet Union. Borrowing from Hopf's societal constructivism (2012) and Wendt's 'cultures of anarchy' (1999) here applied at the second level of analysis, the following study concludes that June 4 was actually key to the end of the Sino-American 'tacit alliance,' leading to a major shift in mutual perceptions, which caused a shift in the Sino-American dyadic culture, from that of trusted friends to that of distrusted adversaries for a season, effectively ending the 'tacit alliance' between the US and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first time in thirty years of ever stronger intellectual property policies, a transnational coalition of Internet users was able to kill two US anti-piracy bills that were backed by some of the most politically connected and economically powerful interests in US politics. Combining insights from the literatures on social movements, networks, and Internet activism, I analyze the structure for social mobilization, the form of the coalition, the role of framing, and the use of technology contributing to its success. The literature on social movements and contentious politics addresses situations of threats or grievances that lead actors to mobilize for collective action. In this case, Goliath's latest gambit to ratchet up intellectual property standards threatened David's use of the Internet. This time David beat Goliath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been 15 years since the last wave of democratization. But as a region, North Africa and the Middle East were noticeably devoid of popular democracy movements-until the early months of 2011. Democratization movements had existed long before technologies like mobile phones and the Internet came to these countries. But with these technologies, people sharing an interest in democracy built extensive networks and activated collective action movements for political change. What might have made regimes more susceptible than others to these uprisings, and what might explain the relative successes of some movements over others? What role does information technology have in the modern recipe for democratization? Weighing multiple political, economic, demographic, and cultural conditions, we find that information infrastructure-especially mobile phone use-consistently appears as one of the key ingredients in parsimonious models for the conjoined combinations of causes behind regime fragility and social movement success. To understand the successes and failures of contemporary political protests, we must also assess how civil society leaders and authoritarian security forces treat communication technologies as democratically consequential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sylvester, Christine et al. (2011) The Forum: Emotion and the Feminist IR Researcher. International Studies Review, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2486.2011.01046.x [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While an interactive relationship between scholars and policymakers is generally regarded as mutually beneficial, there is also the risk of 'entrapment.' The latter occurs when scholars, once having proven their usefulness to policymakers and thereby earned their trust, become unwilling to offer dissenting opinions for the fear of risking their access and privileges. Using Asian regionalism as an example, this article argues that the development of regional institutions in Asia has benefitted from the ideas and input of the two main channels of such scholar-official interaction: epistemic communities and track two dialogues, especially during the formative stages of Asian regionalism (both economic and security). But after gaining access, scholars engaged with officialdom in developing regional institutions have found it difficult to dissent from the official line, and in challenging the shortcomings and failures of Asian regional institutions. In Asia, the danger of entrapment has been strong in authoritarian countries. In general, participation by Asian scholars in the policymaking process has suffered from the inability of scholars and think-tankers (especially the latter) to rise above the national interest and question the official position of their own governments, the ubiquitous presence and dominance of government-linked scholars or retired government officials in track two dialogues, the exclusion of social movements form many such dialogues, the presence and influence of non-specialists (in issue areas) in setting their agenda and outcome, and generational gatekeeping (failure to bring in new faces). As a result, the development of a genuine transnational regionalism has been stunted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the state of feminism in its depiction within the international relations (IR) discipline. Definition of feminism; Conjoined practices that endure within IR; Association of gender and feminism with women.

Discusses the framework for a forum on issues concerning conceptualizations of gender. Views on the non-feminist concept of gender; Controversial nature of feminism in international relations; Guideline questions on gender and feminism.

Discusses the concept and principles of gender and feminism within the context of international relations. Definition of sex and gender; Association of gender with feminism; Implication of mainstreaming a feminist-informed concept of gender in any area in IR.

Scholars have traditionally explained egalitarian social movements in terms of interest-based politics applied to specific policy domains and defined by distinct and immutable identities, such as class, nation, race, or gender. Recent contextual changes limit the analytical power of this traditional mode of analysis. This essay proposes that globalization and European regionalism have opened space for social movements organized by “modular” and context-dependent politics, in which identities are not fixed but multiple, interchangeable, and crosscutting. The convergence criteria of European integration, in tandem with the deregulatory pressures of globalization, repress egalitarian interests in national policy agendas. But the uncertain and overlapping authorities across territory and identity provide new political opportunities for broad-based mobilization, especially when wedded with strategies that take advantage of modular politics. Two recent cases illustrate the increasing significance of context-dependent identity formation in West European social movements. In Sweden, wage-earner feminism gained prominence for its appeal when it went beyond gender interests and captivated a broad-based alliance for a post-Fordist labor compromise. Similarly, the 1997 Eurostrike against Renault gained concessions, for it cast a wide net to attract different identities: class, nation, and Europe. The interplay among European regionalism, globalization, and “modular” politics will ultimately shape the future of egalitarian social movements in Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]