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In the aftermath of the Cold War, both scholars and experts frequently questioned the political relevance of security alliances, given the declining intensity of armed conflicts and the decreasing probability of major interstate wars. However, the post-bipolar international reality marked by the burgeoning of new alliances and coalitions, with old associations being reformed and/or expanded in membership rendered these questions obsolete. In fact, states not only continue to consider military alliance as an important foreign policy tool but actively develop new forms of alliances and coalitions. The article identifies the key trends in the evolution of military and political alliances over the period from the 1990s till the 2010s. Firstly, the authors highlight the waning interest of the leading powers towards formalized allied relations, since they increasingly perceive the latter as an unnecessary burden. At the same time, the researchers note that the leading powers adhered to different approaches to alliance and coalition building in the post-bipolar period. While the United States strengthened the transatlantic core (NATO) in the U.S.-centered network of alliances, relying on more flexible plurilateral formats in other regions of the world, Russia, India, and China did not seek to expand their respective blocs, providing collective security guarantees selectively. That said, all major powers share interest in promoting and developing asymmetric alliances both as tools to deter potential opponents and leverages over junior partners amidst the struggle for spheres of influence. Secondly, the authors conclude that the key feature of the post-Cold War coalition-building is the so-called ritual alliance, when military and political commitments are included in the agenda of regional integration groupings as an addition to substantive issues of cooperation rather than the reverse. Finally, in the 1990s and 2010s, the range of formats of an alliance expanded: from the traditional priorities of territorial defense, the focus has shifted towards expeditionary operations as a part of coalitions, the latter including not only sovereign states but also non-state patronage networks. In conclusion, the authors note that the major powers will continue to promote combined forms of alliances, as the loyalty of partners becomes of increasing strategic importance against the background of growing interstate rivalry.

Recent populist rhetoric and politics seek to undermine existing democratic institutions and efforts to make them more inclusive. Connecting new feminist scholarship that confronts the multidisciplinary implications of post-truth populist politics and discourse, especially for higher education, with exemplary heterotopic feminist responses to pandemonia over the past century, this essay considers how previous tactics might be recast to disturb and provoke the existing status quo, creating new strategies for countering contemporary anti-democratic practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new ECB leadership made it its explicit priority to make ECB’s policies greener. Although doubt remains about the scale and effectiveness of the policies implemented since then, the idea that the ECB has a role to play in the fight against climate change has become widely accepted. The main narrative in support of this idea states that the ECB’s pro-climate engagement is part of its primary mandate – price stability. However, until not long ago, ECB’s primary mandate was rather used by those opposing the greening of central banking, while it was largely ignored by pro-climate advocates. How has this narrative emerged and gained traction? This paper argues that this narrative results from a process of coalition-building between pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate politicians in the European Parliament. Building on a multi-method text analysis of original datasets of accountability communications as well as in-depth interviews, this paper documents the mechanisms through which pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate MEPs co-constructed the pro-climate narrative, using accountability relationships as a coalition-building arena. The paper contributes to ongoing discussions on central banks’ accountability, politicisation and role in the green transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the defining characteristics of successful social movements, employing six case studies for detailed examination. Adopting John Locke's liberal philosophy as a framework, success is gauged based on principles such as public support, peaceful governance, and the safeguarding of individual rights and freedoms. Two pairs of movements - the Civil Rights Movement and Occupy Wall Street; the Women's Suffrage Movement and The Paris Commune - are examined to highlight the importance of leadership, organization, and strategic nonviolent resistance. Another pair - the Environmental Movement and the Arab Spring - underscores the critical role of coalition-building and grassroots support. Through this comparative analysis, the paper elucidates that while every movement operates within its unique context, common characteristics often differentiate successful movements from their less triumphant counterparts. Furthermore, the concept of "success" in social movements is revealed to be multi-dimensional, influenced by numerous factors including societal norms, political climate, and public sentiment. The insights from these case studies not only offer a historical perspective but also equip citizens with the tools to advocate for meaningful change in the future, underscoring the power of committed individuals in shaping society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to my book project currently titled "Trans of Color Entrapments and Carceral Coalitions," this short essay demonstrates how mainstream protrans identity politics have become influenced by procarceral politics. This piece introduces the concept of carceral coalitions in order to spotlight how and when coalition-building might perform a cross-identity, multi-issue, multicultural politics while also reinforcing ongoing carceral agendas and carceral futures. The manuscript attends to how 1980s Los Angeles charted a new era in which minoritarian social movement and civil rights organizing under the banner of "antiviolence" became dutifully tracked into a vision of winnable goals by way of law and order, and the endless multiplications of anti-Black criminalization and punishment that have followed. With brief examples such as the 1985 Los Angeles--founded K6G (formerly K-11), considered the first offi- cial self-segregated gay and transgender jailing unit in the U.S., the essay demonstrates how state-based gender-responsive entrapments have only further carved out penal pathways as models for securing trans "safety," and how abolitionist feminist interventions might be possible in revisioning safety altogether. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important defining features of Japan's "Free and Open Indo‐Pacific" (FOIP) vision is coalition‐building. Given the Yoon administration's strong political will to commit to the Indo‐Pacific affairs and improve its ties with Japan, can Japan and South Korea finally forge cooperation in the Indo‐Pacific region? I argue that Japan has not incorporated South Korea in its FOIP vision because of four main factors: timing, leadership transition, commitment to regional and global strategic affairs, and differing perspectives on China. Particularly, the negative impact of South Korea's leadership change and its fluctuating commitment to regional and global affairs have nurtured Japan's skepticism toward South Korea's potential role in the Indo‐Pacific region. In this context, the key to overcoming such difficulties and incorporating South Korea into the Indo‐Pacific network depends on the Yoon administration's conceptualization and institutionalization of its Indo‐Pacific strategy and Japan's support for South Korea's current diplomatic activism [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following (Kraidy, M. M., & Murphy, P. D. (2003). Media ethnography: Local, global, or translocal? In P. D. Murphy & M. M. Kraidy (Eds.), Global media studies: Ethnographic perspectives (pp. 299–307). Routledge; Kraidy, M. M., & Murphy, P. D. (2008). Shifting Geertz: Toward a theory of translocalism in global communication studies. Communication Theory, 18(3), 335–355. 10.1111/j.1468-2885.2008.00325.x) call to look at global communication through lenses of translocalism and hybridity, I find that global boycotts are hybridized sites that facilitate translocal recognition. Using Boycott Eurovision as a case study, two locales are investigated: petitions and Globalvision. By uncovering the translocal recognition in each locale, global boycotts become crucial avenues of inquiry to understand how global social movements grapple with globalization. The essay describes the importance of understanding the vulnerabilities of international boycotts' hybridized status, calling forward analysis of structure, specific initiatives, and the enactments of hegemonic ideologies found in locales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Metszetek is the property of University of Debrecen 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.)

Background and Aims: This study explores the role of the public health advocacy coalition in alcohol policy development in Ireland. Compared with industry actors, much less is known about the membership, activities and influence of public health advocates in alcohol policymaking. To address this gap, this paper identifies several advocacy strategies, drawn from the advocacy coalition framework and other policy theories, and then analyses them in the context of recent Irish developments. Methods: The study used theory‐building process‐tracing to construct a record of the public health advocacy coalition and its campaign to promote the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 in Ireland. Specifically, we drew upon 131 primary documents produced by advocates, 464 newspaper articles and 18 semi‐structured interviews with key advocates, public health experts and elected officials to undertake a thematic analysis. Results: Public health advocates in Ireland have developed sophisticated political strategies to foster major alcohol policy change. First, public health advocates led the formation of a broad‐based advocacy coalition that helped members to effectively pool their limited resources as well as coordinate their strategy and messaging. Secondly, issue‐framing and message discipline played a key role in the coalition's success. Advocates strategically focused upon the policy problem, specifically health harms, rather than the detailed content of the proposed measures. Finally, there is evidence of political learning, where advocates' prior experiences and knowledge of the political system in Ireland spurred innovations in campaigning. These strategies were interdependent and mutually reinforcing, and succeeded in building support for public health advocates' preferred policies among politicians and the general public. Discussion/conclusion: There are distinct capabilities that public health actors can mobilize in the policy process to win alcohol policy debates and capitalize on the constraints on industry influence on alcohol policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indo-Pacific has emerged as a region of great movement, conflict and cooperation, contestations and coalition-building. The emergence of minilateral and multilateral cooperation by the middle powers is increasing in the region, with the regional countries enthusiastically mapping the region focussing on their centrality. History proves that the role of middle-power countries became more prominent during the moments of international transition. The two contrasting powers like India and Australia; one with a post-colonial identity in foreign policy-making, subtle emphasis on non-aligned movement (NAM) and emerging as an influential power, and, on the other, a traditional middle power with an alliance structure and regionalism akin to the Western model, have equal stakes in the region and it is inevitable for them to take a leadership position in building what is called a middle power communion in the Indo-Pacific. This article will explore the understanding of middle powers and how India and Australia, as middle powers; are strategically placed and, being great powers within their respective regions; take the responsibility of region-building and maintaining peace with great powers, and how the Indo-Pacific and Quad are emerging as discourses within their foreign policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social movement scholarship has long attempted to apprehend the dynamic qualities of social movements. Considering the temporal embeddedness of social movement activities is essential because it leads to an understanding of continuity and change in the content and form of social movements in the long run. Because the past, the present, and the future are co-defined, more attention should be paid to the way different time frames shape one another. In this article, we focus our attention on the influence of visions of the future on present practices. Drawing on qualitative research mainly in Belgium, France, and Germany, we explore how projected climate-just futures influence the practices of grassroots climate justice organizations in the present. For this purpose, we center our analysis on a macro-level vision that depicts a climate-just world as a world where domination systems (aka. capitalism, colonialism, or patriarchy) have been replaced in order to let a more egalitarian society strive. We use the concept of prefiguration to illustrate how this vision transforms organizing and mobilizing activities. Such transformative effects are exemplified in attempts at developing an alternative organizational culture and building alliances with marginalized groups, with more or less success. • We identify one widespread vision of climate justice that permeates a lot of activist organizations in Europe. • This vision is based on a systemic analysis of the roots and drivers of climate change and vulnerability to the latter. • This vision shapes the organizing and mobilizing practices of grassroots organizations in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1992–93 war in Abkhazia was one of several ethno-nationalist conflicts which blighted the Caucasus, following the demise of the Soviet Union. The conflict involved the large-scale mobilization of volunteers, from southern Russia and from further afield, who allied with Abkhaz secessionists in the build-up to, and during, the war. This paper examines the coalition-building process between Abkhaz secessionists and other ethno-nationalist movements throughout the conflict. This article's central questions examine how the coalitions between Abkhaz and non-indigenous movements formed and how the process of coalition-building impacted on the longevity of such alliances. Drawing on the concept of transnational activism, it analyses the role of ethnic relatedness, political opportunity and common threat as contributing factors which influenced mobilization and the alliance-building process. The paper assesses the durability of the transnational coalitions in three different phases of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. The study illustrates that the most durable alliances formed with Abkhaz's closest ethnic relatives Abkhaz-Abaza movements, Ossetian nationalists and the broader "Russian world." It demonstrates that the Abkhaz connection with Chechen and Circassian movements was event-based and temporary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars face a paradox: How to engage in critical community building when the nature of academic engagement in neoliberal times encourages academic entrepreneurship? Competition is encouraged among scholars as they vie for citations, resources, and recognition. This article considers how qualitative researchers might build and sustain critical community through engaging in research, teaching, and service in ways that inculcate humility and a spirit of generosity toward others' work to build coalitions among scholars who may not agree. This work is imperative for qualitative scholars as they engage in collective action to address the inequities brought about by global crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public sector reforms often take place in heterogeneous reform environments. Key political, administrative and societal actors often advocate different definitions of problems and solutions. A major leadership challenge is to choose a reform strategy that ensures the requisite level of support, even when the initial conflict structure is highly complex. Using cleavage theory, we develop assumptions about how the reform leader's assessment of the initial conflict affects the leader's choice between three distinct reform strategies. These assumptions are applied to a case study of a complex and contested public sector reform, Norway's national local government reform. We show how the government's choice of a reform strategy can be understood in light of cleavage theory and discuss the implications of these findings for further theory development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful prevention and control of the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) cannot be achieved by the health sector alone: a wide range of organisations from multiple sectors and across government must also be involved. This requires a new, inclusive approach to advocacy and to coordinating, convening and catalysing action across civil society, best achieved by a broad-based network. This comment maps the experience of the NCD Alliance (NCDA) on to Shiffman’s challenges for global health networks – framing (problem definition and positioning), coalition-building and governance – and highlights some further areas overlooked in his analysis.

This study contributes to the literature on informal governance by examining politics of informal agenda-setting in the European Commission. As a 'hard case', the paper examines how the European Commission exceeds limited legal Treaty provisions in foreign and security policy (CFSP). This system, where the Commission has come to play a more prominent role than stipulated in the treaties, is interpreted as a normalization of CFSP governance. Three complementary propositions on the informal agenda-setting role of the Commission are developed: agenda leadership (#1), coalition-building (#2), and community framing (#3). To illuminate these propositions, we examine their relevance across three empirical cases: (i) EU's Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS), (ii) EU's Arctic policies, and (iii) EU's naval mission against human smuggling in the Mediterranean, EU Sophia. These cases suggest that informal agenda governance by the European Commission is mainly shaped by agenda leadership in combination with EU-level coalition-building, but also strengthened by community framing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociocultural context, in which media advocacy is practised, results in several influential factors that affect its effectiveness, outcomes, and success/failure. The objective of this article is to identify and discuss the sociocultural and political factors for the media advocacy efforts in fighting sexual harassment in Egypt and to evaluate their influence on the campaign's outcomes. Using the triangulation approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with advocates, media experts and policy-makers. The analysis revealed six influential factors that can inform and improve future media advocacy campaigning. The pivotal factor is 'focusing events', which are a golden opportunity due to its effectiveness in getting the attention of various publics and pushing forward the required policy solutions, which is discussed from the agenda-setting lens. Other influential factors include coalition-building, political will, public opinion, the image of advocates, and the influence of social media, which are discussed in further detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rulemaking pursuant to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act provides a useful setting to assess theories of interest group influence. In the wake of the financial crisis, Congress delegated new rulemaking authority to federal agencies to regulate mortgage markets. A critical aspect of this new regulatory regime engendered significant controversy from affected interests: "credit risk retention" would require sponsors of asset-backed securities to retain a stake in the risk of securitized assets. Contrary to unrefined industry capture-based accounts stressing the disproportionate role of larger, well-established regulated entities in setting policy, we find little evidence of sustained effort by large lenders to dilute regulatory standards via political investments. Rather, a diverse coalition of housing sector, community, and civil rights groups, backed by an ideologically diverse swath of legislators, forced substantial regulatory retrenchment. Our analysis suggests a more nuanced view of private influence, in which coordination plays a more substantial role than political investments alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How are the rise, fall, and evolution of minilateralism in the Indo-Pacific region explained? To address this question, I examine the cases of the Quad and AUKUS, and argue that they were caused by the success and failure of coalition-building efforts made through ‘tactical hedging’. As the world transitions from a unipolar to a non-unipolar world, states attempt to formulate coalitions to safeguard their national interests. However, the challenge is to figure out which states are truly ‘like-minded’ and can strategically coordinate their policies for mutual interests. Under this circumstance, states send signals through ‘tactical hedging’ – ‘an ambiguous, temporal declaratory policy doctrine’ – that assists the hedger in assessing whether its allies and partners are willing to cooperate; in this case, building a coalition towards the same or similar strategic objectives. The key is the initial ambiguity in signalling, which becomes critical to the future success of building a coalition among parties whose interests are not always congruent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global health networks, webs of individuals and organizations with a shared concern for a particular condition, have proliferated over the past quarter century. They differ in their effectiveness, a factor that may help explain why resource allocations vary across health conditions and do not correspond closely with disease burden. Drawing on findings from recently concluded studies of eight global health networks—addressing alcohol harm, early childhood development (ECD), maternal mortality, neonatal mortality, pneumonia, surgically-treatable conditions, tobacco use, and tuberculosis—I identify four challenges that networks face in generating attention and resources for the conditions that concern them. The first is problem definition: generating consensus on what the problem is and how it should be addressed. The second is positioning: portraying the issue in ways that inspire external audiences to act. The third is coalition-building: forging alliances with these external actors, particularly ones outside the health sector. The fourth is governance: establishing institutions to facilitate collective action. Research indicates that global health networks that effectively tackle these challenges are more likely to garner support to address the conditions that concern them. In addition to the effectiveness of networks, I also consider their legitimacy, identifying reasons both to affirm and to question their right to exert power.

This work attempts to rehabilitate Donna Haraway’s (1991) figure of the cyborg to increase the possibilities of alliances between transnational feminism and cyborg or technoscience feminism. Haraway’s cyborg offers little impetus for political investment and coalition building. This work develops an optional prosthesis of responseability for the cyborg figuration, one that enables the cyborg to invest locally. This ethic of response-ability is developed via the work of Mary Strine (1989), Adrienne Rich (1984) and Aimee Carillo Rowe (2005). This supplementary ethic grafts a “collectivist conscience” onto the permeable being of the cyborg, encouraging alliance- and coalitionbuilding.

Place-based health efforts account for the role of the community environment in shaping decisions and circumstances that affect population well-being. Such efforts, rooted as they are in the theory that health is socially determined, mobilize resources for health promotion that are not typically used, and offer a more informed and robust way of promoting health outcomes within a community. Common criticisms of place-based work include the difficulty of replication, since engagement is so specific to a place, and limited sustainability of the work, in the absence of continued institutional structures, both within the community and supporting structures outside the community, to keep these initiatives resilient. This paper describes a place-based initiative, GO! Austin/VAMOS! Austin (GAVA), which was designed to harness the strengths of place-based work—namely, its specificity to place and community. From the start, the project was designed to balance this specificity with a focus on developing and utilizing a standardized set of evidence-informed implementation and evaluation approaches and tools that were flexible enough to be modified for specific settings. This was accompanied by an emphasis on leadership and capacity building within resident leaders, which provided for informed intervention and demand building capacity, but also for longevity as partners, philanthropic, and otherwise, moved in and out of the work.

Why do U.S. Supreme Court justices direct caustic rhetoric against each other in their opinions? In this article, I test two alternative theories for the use of this rhetoric. The coalition maintenance hypothesis maintains that the rhetoric is a shaming mechanism directed against close colleagues to impose costs on dissensus, while the polarization hypothesis suggests that it is a consequence of the rise of affective polarization on the Court. Using an augmented version of the Supreme Court Database, supplemented with Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) data, as well as other original data, I find evidence for both models, with the coalition maintenance hypothesis more prevalent in recent terms. While there is evidence that the justices deploy caustic rhetoric against their ideological opponents, on the Roberts Court the justices have tended to use this rhetoric strategically to shame close colleagues who are voting against coalitional preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multi-faceted complexities of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) require consistent action, a multidisciplinary approach, and long-term political commitment. Building coalitions can amplify stakeholder efforts to carry out effective AMR prevention and control strategies. We have developed and implemented an approach to help local stakeholders kick-start the coalition-building process. The five-step process is to (1) mobilise support, (2) understand the local situation, (3) develop an action plan, (4) implement the plan, and (5) monitor and evaluate. We first piloted the approach in Zambia in 2004, then used the lessons learned to expand it for use in Ethiopia and Namibia and to the regional level through the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network [EPN]. Call-to-action declarations and workshops helped promote a shared vision, resulting in the development of national AMR action plans, revision of university curricula to incorporate relevant topics, infection control activities, engagement with journalists from various mass media outlets, and strengthening of drug quality assurance systems. Our experience with the coalition-building approach in Ethiopia, Namibia, Zambia, and with the EPN shows that coalitions can form in a variety of ways with many different stakeholders, including government, academia, and faith-based organisations, to organise actions to preserve the effectiveness of existing antimicrobials and contain AMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful prevention and control of the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) cannot be achieved by the health sector alone: a wide range of organisations from multiple sectors and across government must also be involved. This requires a new, inclusive approach to advocacy and to coordinating, convening and catalysing action across civil society, best achieved by a broad-based network. This comment maps the experience of the NCD Alliance (NCDA) on to Shiffman's challenges for global health networks -- framing (problem definition and positioning), coalition-building and governance -- and highlights some further areas overlooked in his analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Relações Internacionais is the property of Relacoes Internacionais 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.)

Global health networks, webs of individuals and organizations with a shared concern for a particular condition, have proliferated over the past quarter century. They differ in their effectiveness, a factor that may help explain why resource allocations vary across health conditions and do not correspond closely with disease burden. Drawing on findings from recently concluded studies of eight global health networks--addressing alcohol harm, early childhood development (ECD), maternal mortality, neonatal mortality, pneumonia, surgically-treatable conditions, tobacco use, and tuberculosis--I identify four challenges that networks face in generating attention and resources for the conditions that concern them. The first is problem definition: generating consensus on what the problem is and how it should be addressed. The second is positioning: portraying the issue in ways that inspire external audiences to act. The third is coalition-building: forging alliances with these external actors, particularly ones outside the health sector. The fourth is governance: establishing institutions to facilitate collective action. Research indicates that global health networks that effectively tackle these challenges are more likely to garner support to address the conditions that concern them. In addition to the effectiveness of networks, I also consider their legitimacy, identifying reasons both to affirm and to question their right to exert power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elucidates how domestic and external factors have shaped the negotiating policy of the Philippines in bringing about incremental gains not only for its benefit but also for other developing countries during the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture Doha Development Round (DDR). The internal factors include the following: (1) executive monopoly of the WTO negotiations; (2) issue-based fragmentation and dispersal of authority; (3) the autonomy and flexibility of the Philippine WTO negotiator; (4) the involvement of civil society in the WTO negotiations, and (4) the central role of the Department of Agriculture as the lead agency in the WTO negotiations. A major reason for this is attributed to an external factor which is the centrality of agriculture as a major WTO issue among developing countries. Other external factors, on the other hand, include the following: (1) the strong solidarity among developing countries and (2) the confinement to particular issues with regards to coalition-building. These factors helped to strengthen the bargaining leverage of the Philippines, a seemingly ‘weak’ country, vis-à-vis the developed countries in the WTO. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This work attempts to rehabilitate Donna Haraway's (1991) figure of the cyborg to increase the possibilities of alliances between transnational feminism and cyborg or technoscience feminism. Haraway's cyborg offers little impetus for political investment and coalition building. This work develops an optional prosthesis of response-ability for the cyborg figuration, one that enables the cyborg to invest locally. This ethic of response-ability is developed via the work of Mary Strine (1989), Adrienne Rich (1984) and Aimee Carillo Rowe (2005). This supplementary ethic grafts a "collectivist conscience" onto the permeable being of the cyborg, encouraging alliance- and coalition-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines ethnic minorities' coalition-building within and across nationstates - a phenomenon largely neglected by the existing literature on ethnic relations and by migration and diaspora studies alike. Besides discussing different types of existing minority coalitions at the local, state, and international levels, this papers evaluates how accounting for the relational interplay among ethnic minorities could possibly contribute to our understanding of interethnic relations and democratization processes, and suggests possible directions for future research, while using a number of examples, both in historical and contemporary settings, from Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa in order to illustrate the main points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]