Transnational Solidarity in the Face of Humanitarian Crises: Trends in Voluntary Giving in Germany.

Protagonists in the social sciences as well as in politics repeatedly broach theissue of the future of solidarity in the perspective of decay. If solidarity means"national solidarity", it is well possible that the claimed decline of the nationstateleads to a weakening of certain solidary attitudes. But solidarity exists in avariety of different forms and takes place in many different contexts. Solidaritydoes not necessarily stop at the borders of the nation-state. This is why the term"transnational solidarity" in the last years has been ascribed increasingsignificance. Does solidarity increasingly take place beyond the nation-state?Especially researchers in sociology and social anthropology have discussed thisquestion multifariously and controversially. For the discipline of InternationalRelations this discussion gains importance particularly within the discussionaround the development of a political order beyond the nation-state in thenormative substantive meaning of the term. Yet, empirical studies dealing withthe claimed increase of transnational solidarity are rare until now. The presentpaper exemplarily analyses the claimed increase in transnational solidarity usingthe example of voluntary giving in Germany for humanitarian crisis in distantcountries. I consider as indicators for transnational solidarity the relativeproportion of donations for humanitarian and development aid as well as theincome from donations by a subset of organizations active in this area. Theexplorative analysis supports the claim of an increase of transnational solidarity.However deep fractions characterize this trend and demand further explanation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]