Rooted transnational publics: Integrating foreign ties and civic activism

Abstract

Can civic organizations be both locally rooted and globally connected? Based on a survey of 1,002 of the largest civic organizations in Hungary, we conclude that there is not a forced choice between foreign ties and domestic integration. By studying variation in types of foreign interactions and variation in types of domestic integration, our analysis goes beyond notions of footloose experts versus rooted cosmopolitans. Organizations differ in their rootedness according to whether they have ties to their members and constituents, whether they have ties to other organizations in the civic sector, and whether they associate with actors from outside the civic sector. Similarly, we specify different types of foreign ties. In both domains our emphasis is on the type of action involved in the tie-especially relations of accountability and partnership. By demonstrating a systematic relationship between the patterns of foreign ties and the patterns of domestic integration, we chart three emerging forms of transnational publics.Can civic organizations be both locally rooted and globally connected? A prominent theme in the literature on social movements, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and civic organizations more generally points to warning signs about the potential negative effects of transnationalization. According to that view, international ties come at the expense of local integration. For some authors, the sources of disintegration are located in changes in the internal structure of the organizations whereby transnationalized organizations become professionalized, bureaucratized, and commercialized, with the potential consequence of the de-radicalization of the organizations (Rucht, 1999: 218). For others, the negative effects of transnationalization result from accompanying changes in the relationship between the Theor Soc (2006) 35: 323-349

The Structural Sources of Association

“…In other cases, domestic organizational spin-offs of international mobilization may prove epiphenomenal to larger global movements, with little independent impact of their own (Frank et al 2007). Of course, global resources or links do not preclude the possibility that associations may be (or may eventually become) deeply embedded in national societies (Stark et al 2006), altering their impact over time. And, the ascendance of associations-as-myth may increase their consequences, as associations are heaped with legitimacy and given greater accordance by formal structures of governance.…”

‘You can’t have one without the other’: the differential impact of civil society strength on the implementation of EU policy

“…Based on the membership logic, CSOs enjoying large and active membership are better able to understand societal grievances and communicate these to the relevant political institutions. When provided access to the policy process, CSOs can rely on the support of volunteers, mobilize collective action, and extract resources from their members to facilitate implementation (Stark et al 2006). Based on the logic of influence, policy implementation depends on the coordination mechanisms between CSOs and political institutions.…”

Locating the global governance of HIV and AIDS: Exploring the geographies of transnational advocacy networks

“…Appadurai (2001), for example, using the example of urban social movements in Mumbai, argues that the lateral reach of such movementstheir efforts to build international networks or coalitions of durability with their counterparts across national boundaries -is in large part shaped by the 'depth' of their engagement in local contexts. Likewise, Stark et al (2006) ask whether civic organisations can be both locally rooted and globally connected. They find there is not a forced choice between foreign linkages and domestic integration.…”