Transnational Politics
Keohane/Nye, Introduction
Today
Registration, digitally aided name recognition, index card Attendance, papers, presentation, campaign item Two different views:
US-based: It’s easy! ethical trade (podcast from: Policy Innovations): forestry, mining, and fisheries.
European: It’s complex. BBC documentaries (Thursday) Defining non-state actors (NSAs) Theories of IR and transnationalism Reading: Keohane/Nye 1971
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Non-state actors (NSAs)
What is transnationalism? What are non-state actors (NSAs)?
Distinguishing from states and IGOs What are the goals non-state actors pursue? What are the means non-state actors use? What roles do non-state actors play?
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Definition: Transnational relations
Transnational relations are “regular interactions across national boundaries when at least one actor is a non-state agent or does not operate on behalf of a national government or an intergovernmental organization.”
(Thomas Risse-Kappen, Introduction, in Bringing Transnational Relations Back In: Non-State Actors, Domestic Structure and International Institutions, Cambridge University Press 1995, p. 3)
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Challenging state-centrism
Keohane/Nye, 1971, xii
Four major types of transnational interactions: Communication of ideas Transportation (trade in goods and services) Finance (FDI, investment) Travel and movement of people (migration)
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Effects of transnationalism
Increase the sensitivity of societies to one another (1) and diffusion processes (2) resulting in (Keohane/Nye, xvi):
attitude changes international pluralism (interest groups) constraints on state actors increase (interdependence) increasing ability of certain governments to influence
other governments emergence of autonomous actors with private foreign
policies
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Non-state actors in world affairs
Three types of transnational non-state actors: Multinational Corporations Non-Governmental Organizations (Global Civil Society) Drug cartels, terrorists, arms traders, money launderer, human
trafficker, etc.
How are non-state actors different from states or intergovernmental organizations? In contrast to states, NGOs lack sovereign control over population
and territory. In contrast to IGOs, NGOs are not created by states. They are
created by private citizens.
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Classifying non-state actors
Transnational vs. local/national Human Rights First vs. NAACP
Profit-making vs. not-for-profit Exxon/GM vs. Greenpeace
Integrating vs. fragmenting purpose Aga Khan Foundation vs. al-Qaeda
Membership vs. non-membership organization Amnesty International vs. Human Rights Watch
Service versus advocacy organization World Vision vs. Amnesty International
Faith-based vs. secular
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Three types of authority
Multinational corporations (for profit, commerce, market authority)
Non-governmental organizations (not-for-profit, service and advocacy, moral authority), global civil society
Drug cartels, terrorists, arms traders, traffickers (illicit, violent authority)
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Market authority
Def.: MNCs are enterprises with commercial operations in more than one country.
100 largest economies: 51 are MNCs and 49 are states.
In 1996, 405 out of 500 largest MNCs were headquartered in the Northern hemisphere: US (162), Japan (126), France (42), Germany (41), and Great Britain (34).
1969: about 7,000 MNCs; 2005: 63,312 MNCs with 821,818 foreign affiliates. >> ILO information on MNCs
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Illicit authority
Criminal networks: borders as a business opportunity; trafficking of weapons, humans, and drugs.
Piracy: the high seas as a stateless sphere; Somalia, South East Asia, etc.
Terrorism: the political use of violence and transnational relations
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Why is transnational crime on the rise?
State failure: Proliferation of small arms; failing border controls, etc.
Globalization: increasing and faster financial and other transactions, etc.
Global inequalities: human trafficking, drug trade, etc.
Lack of inter-state cooperation: weak United Nations, lack of coordination among law enforcement, competing state interests,
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Moral authority Global civil society
Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Greenpeace Campaigns against child labor, landmines, for the ICC
Transnational networks Alternative to state and markets: Networks are non-
hierarchical, horizontal exchanges based on shared goals/values.
NGOs, foundations, churches, media, unions, etc. Increased and cheaper travel/communication.
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Global NGO Growth, based on: Yearbook of International Organizations, Vol. 1, 1997/98
8323,318
6,2229,521
17,03020,634
23,635
36,05440,306
050001000015000200002500030000350004000045000
1951 1968 1976 1978 1983 1985 1991 1995 1997
NGOs
Wednesday, 1/23/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
NGOs at the United Nations
1948: 40 NGOs with initial observer status at the UN
2003: 2,379 NGOs at the UN with consultative status.
Graph of NGO growth at the UN (P. Willetts)
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Service and advocacy
Service NGO: Provides direct services to a population (example: education, health) World Vision, Save the Children, Oxfam.
Advocacy NGO: Lobbies for the rights and claims of others by publishing reports, lobbying, mobilizing the media and public. Amnesty International, Greenpeace.
Wednesday, 1/23/2008Hans Peter Schmitz