The Research Group on Transnational Contention primarily consists of advanced graduate students at Cornell University and is directed by Sidney Tarrow; click here for Professor Tarrow's curriculum vitae. The Research Group's general intent is to understand and clarify the linkages between transnational NGOs, domestic activists, and international institutions, treaties, and states.
Our basic argument is that transnational NGOs sit at the center of two-level ties between western states, international institutions and foundations and the domestic civic activists they aim to help. These ties are crucial in:
- transferring resources from third party states, international institutions, and foundations to weak domestic civic associations;
- translating parts of the agendas of these agents to their domestic affiliates by their choice of issues, strategies, and sites of;
- offering certification to these groups by virtue of their own authority and that of the international agencies.
On the other hand, they may inadvertantly weaken grassroots groups' domestic positions, their unity, and their capacity to focus on the most pressing domestic priorities. As we survey the links involved in this "two-level game", we wish to examine the following problems:
- top-to-bottom communications through which sophisticated transnational activists, fortified by greater resources, knowledge of international institutions, and the authority that comes from links to western states and international institutions, inform domestic civil activists of what "needs to be done";
- certification of domestic groups by international institutions on the basis of institutional or political criteria which may certify some groups but not others;
- factionalization among domestic groups as some are selected as allies by transnational NGOs, receive resources from them while other groups either wither away or become alienated from their transnationally-favored counterparts;
- cooptation of the most dynamic grassroots activists into international activities and their growing distance from the problems faced by their organizations on the ground;
and most important:
- an absence or weakness of mechanisms for the representation of the presumed domestic constituencies of transnational NGOs in the latters' choice of campaigns, issues, and strategies vis a vis international institutions and national governments;
- offering certification to these groups by virtue of their own authority and that of the international agencies.
To address these issues, we have chosen several sectors of activity in which to concentrate our research. Each case area will be headed by a research team member working on these issues.
Religion and Human Rights
Lead Researcher: Evelyn Bush, Sociology
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Since the end of the Cold War, international relations scholars and have noted the reemergence of religion as a significant force in defining the coalitions and boundaries among actors in both intra- and international conflicts. What many of these scholars do not examine are the trends toward secularization that sociological institutionalists have found among transnational actors (Boli and Thomas 1999). The United Nations is a major site where the interaction between these two trends occurs.
The Religion and Human Rights case study focuses on the organizational bodies of the UN system and the affiliated NGOs and philanthropies that address human rights issues. Our preliminary evidence suggests that roughly two-fifths of the transnational organizations active in the human rights sector are faith-based. Through our analysis of religious human rights organizations, we hope to learn more about the role that international institutions like the UN play in enabling religious institutions to gain power on the world stage. We entertain two central hypotheses: that UN human rights discourses empower religious groups to the extent that these groups mobilize their resources to support UN programs; second, that the organizational forms that religious NGOs adopt are influenced by the incentive structures of the international institutions with which they interact.
Many religion-based NGOs are caught in a two-level game that requires them to strike a balance between acquiring and maintaining access to international institutions on the one hand, and maintaining the integrity of their organizational frames and their legitimacy amongst their constituencies on the other. We will explore the more or less successful strategies that religious organizations of various traditions use when facing this dilemma at the U.N.
Indigenous Groups
Lead Researcher: Kelly Dietz, Sociology
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We will also seek to understand the facilitative or constraining role that international institutions and transnational organizations play in relation to indigenous activism. Preliminary examination of the burgeoning activism by indigenous groups at the United Nations suggests that the UN's institutionalization of the identity category "indigenous peoples" as a legitimate form of social inequality provides an alternative site in which to seek redress, foremost by those who base their claims on indigeneity within the national arena. These findings suggest that institutionalization of a protest identity by intergovernmental organizations provides not only an alternative site for mobilization, but also a new basis for activism in the national context. This implies an unwittingly "creative" role for international institutions in the spread of domestic activism.
Using preliminary data on indigenous activism at the UN, we have found distinct spatial and temporal patterns of transnational indigenous activism. The early risers came from the settler nations and from Northern Europe; these were soon followed by activists from Asia and Africa and the Middle East. Building on this work, we wish to focus on the theoretical and political implications of different ways of categorizing of citizen groups at the international level. In particular, we will examine a process of categorization emerging at the UN alongside the global spread of transnational indigenous activism, wherein some groups are recognized as legitimate "indigenous peoples" and other groups are labeled as "minorities." Preliminary investigation suggests that as the population of self-proclaimed "indigenous peoples" grows more and more diverse, certain actors – western states, international institutions, and even those who claim indigenous identity themselves feel compelled to limit the parameters of "indigeneity" and the substantive claims that can be based on it.
Global Warming and the United
Nations
Lead Researcher: Ion Bogdan Vasi, Sociology
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UNEP (the United Nations Environmental Program), and especially the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Coordinating Committee on the Ozone Layer (CCOL) have been from the beginning the main institutional forums dealing with global warming problems. The Rio Framework in 1992 and the Kyoto revision in 1997 were the work of scientists from around the world. However, attempts to implement a protocol to limit the emissions of greenhouse gasses have repeatedly failed. IPCC is expected to be at the center of future efforts, with governments and nongovernmental organizations attempting to influence the outcome of its decisions.
The old green imperative "Think globally, act locally!" has never been more acute than in the case of global warming. To limit the effects of human induced global warming, the relations between transnational NGOs and local US actors are crucial, for two reasons. First, global warming awareness is relatively low and the general understanding of the phenomenon is quite poor. Second, the issue of global warming is so complex that it can make people feel helpless or frustrated. To overcome this difficulty, transnational NGOs need the support of local environmental groups, which can create a feeling of empowerment by educating people about how they can 'make a difference' within their community.
Two recent examples illustrate the relevance of cooperation between local and transnational actors in the case of global warming. The first is an initiative by the National Council of Churches, which aims to raise global warming awareness and empower American citizens by connecting speakers from transnational environmental organizations with local religious leaders. The second is an initiative called 'Kyoto Now!', which aims to educate the American college students about global warming and how they can act locally, within their campuses, to limit emissions of greenhouse gasses. Through the connection between transnational environmental organizations (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth) and campus based action groups, the first gain access to grassroots organizations who can 'act locally' while the second gain access to outside resources which allows them to 'think globally'.
The European Union and Genetic
Modification
Lead Researcher: Javier Lezaun, Science and Technology Studies
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By historic accident, the great scientific and technical breakthroughs in genetic engineering of crops coincides with the formation of the strongest set of international institutions in the world – the European Union. This means that groups critical of and protesting against the diffusion of genetically modified seeds in Western Europe have naturally turned to the EU. Coming in the midst of the BSE crisis, the importation of genetically-modified crops put European institutions under tremendous cross-pressures from producers and importers of genetic seeds, farmers and retail outlets, and consumer and environmental groups.
This case study will compare the techno-political arrangements that public institutions and corporations in Europe and the United States are trying to establish in response to public concerns and protest over genetically modified organisms. Particular focus will be given to the emergence of a "GM-free" market, the actors trying to construct, oppose, or shape it, their ability to influence the food production and distrubution system,their relation to EU policies and institutions, and their effect on EU-US relations (and on their US counterparts.)
Labor Union Transnational
Activism
Lead Researcher: Mark Anner, Government
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In the aftermath of the oil crises of the 1970s and the recession of the early 1980s, corporations began a dramatic process of industrial restructuring. They reduced costs through minimizing inventory, promoting 'flexible' labor relations, and outsourcing significant segments of the production process. Often this weakened labor's power at the plant level. As old repertoires of contention no longer produced the desired results, trade unions began to share information about corporations across borders, coordinate bargaining strategies, and occasionally participate in joint protest activity. They targeted not only their multinational corporate employers but also the regional and international institutions (such as NAFTA, the EU and WTO) that facilitate the process of economic globalization.
More recently, many of these unions have turned to new transnational allies. For example, trade union campaigns in the apparel sector in Latin American received broader support when framed to appeal to the concerns of consumers in the North about sweatshop practices. Moreover, they found that not only the message, but the messenger matters; religious organizations and students groups make powerful allies when they speak out on behalf of exploited third world garment workers since these groups cannot be accused of acting on behalf of a protectionist desire to keep their jobs. Even autoworkers in places like Brazil have found that, as their real wages decline and membership drops, they must pursue new forms of action which require new and transnational alliances.
We wish to examine the impact on domestic trade unions of their growing transnational ties and of the different forms these ties have taken. We see two main forms emerging: labor union transnationalism—links between local unions and their international allies; and transnational activist neworks—links between local unions and transnational activist networks and NGOs. Each of these forms of activism fosters particular relationships and particular problems. Labor transnationism places unions in contact with well-developed institutional structures (eg. The ILO, the ICFTU, the AFL-CIO), which are insensitive to external influence but are reasonably steady in their support, while reliance on transnational activist networks depends on short-term, staccato campaigns and student activists whose attention span may be short and whose priorities may rapidly shift to other issues. We will examine the effects on domestic labor activists of these two forms of labor transnational activism in two different industries – textiles and automobiles -- in four Central and South American countries where both labor transnationalism and transnational activist networks have both been evident.
Transnational Nationalism in the European Union
Lead Researcher: Devashree Gupta, Government
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Existing research on regional nationalist movements rarely considers their transnational dimensions. Much of this work implicitly assumes that while transnational social movements link diverse actors in different locations through complex networks of activity and affinity, nationalist movements are too particular and too oriented towards specific nations to generate similar kinds of ties. While nationalist forms, organizations, and even repertoires may look similar across borders, the contention of nationalist contention is understood to be unique to the state at which it is targeted. Hence, while nationalism as a form of political organization may be "modular," it is understood to be specific in terms of message, language, imagery, and symbols.
However, it seems clear from the cyclical nature of waves of nationalism that there are either structural affinities among nationalist episodes, or mechanisms of transnational diffusion and learning, or both. Moreover, there is some evidence that a number of nationalist movements are working purposefully to forge transnational networks with diverse actors and organizations. Globalization, including the expansion of international organizations and, in the case of the European Union, supranational institutions, provides many social movements with organizational resources that represent new avenues for pressing claims and that afford additional political opportunities for mobilization, protest, and advocacy. Like other social movement sectors, nationalists recognize that these new channels may be more effective than activity directed solely at their own national governments.
The case study on transnational nationalism seeks to understand how transnational networks among regional nationalist organizations, state governments, and international/supranational organizations affect and shape the goals and tactics of such groups, as well as their effects on policy outcomes. Specifically, it focuses on what kinds of groups enter into these transnational networks, and with whom. It also examines how these linkages influence the strategies and choices of these groups (e.g., whether learning occurs, whether linkages alter claims in some way). Finally, it also considers the strategic role of international/supranational organizations - whether they help advance, facilitate, or retard movement goals.
The Evolution of Global Human Rights Activism
Lead Researcher: Hans Peter Schmitz, Political Science, Syracuse University
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The United Nations and its subsidiary bodies serve as a unique mobilization platform for human rights activists. Prior to 1945, no such organization representing a universal understanding of human rights existed on the global level. The case study explores in two comparisons instances of past and present transnational human rights mobilization and their interactions with the UN and its member states.
The first comparison focuses on the emergence of the Genocide convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as two competing interpretations of human rights. While the Genocide convention emerged initially as a binding treaty focusing on the protection of collectivities, the non-binding UDHR favored an individualist interpretation of human rights. The puzzle addressed in this research is the success of the weaker of the two agreements. Institutionalists would expect that the stronger convention would prevail in the subsequent definition of human rights by the global community. However, why did the UDHR become an inspiration for the global human rights movement, while the Genocide convention was largely ignored in the more recent human rights struggles? To answer this question, the second comparison will focus on the reemergence of transnational human rights activism in the 1960s and 1970s. How did the mobilization differ from the 1940s? What strategies were dominant and what kind of (new) relationships with international institutions were developed? Tracing the evolution of transnational human rights activism is a crucial step in unpacking non-governmental organizations and their principled efforts in human rights promotion. It is an important ingredient in understanding the current global human rights discourse and its biases.
Dockers in the
Global Economy: The domestic origins of transnational labour mobilization
Lead Researcher: Antonina Gentile, Political Science,
Johns Hopkins University
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Dockworkers, working in an industry that is inherently international, are a prime subject for research on labor transnationalism. Antonina, who is earning her PhD at Johns Hopkins, is beginning her research on the cascade of dockers’ strikes that began in Liverpool in 1995 and spread around the world. On that occasion, 500 dockworkers in the employ of Mersey Docks and Harbour Co. were locked out for refusing to cross a picket line. The Liverpool Dockers and their wives soon set off to organize an international campaign, touring ports the world over so as to gather support and to instigate boycotts of Liverpool trade, and organizing two international days of action – all without the support of their union and of the International Transport Federation (ITF). Surprisingly, after 18 months, the Liverpool Dockers and their supporters around the world elicited the ITF’s imprimatur for a first international day of action dockers in 20 OECD countries.
That campaign provides a wealth of evidence about transnational grassroots networking, domestic union types and international organizations in both “globalized” and “non-globalized” national settings. In it we observe international non-government organizations delimiting transnational collective action; diffusion by grassroots transnational networking as a necessary (but not sufficient) condition in order to push past the limits of INGO tolerance; and globalization’s impact on labor’s capacity to mobilize as mediated by the domestic level struggle between capital and labor .
The project will examine how – under conditions of globalization – domestic factors and processes are still the key to 1) building union capacity to mobilize transnationally, and 2) promoting INGO efficacy. Antonina is working with project members at Cornell in the summer of 2002, before returning to Johns Hopkins to complete her course work. She anticipates carrying out her field research in 2003-4.