Contemporary Issues in International Relations Transnational Politics
Today Registration: everyone? Basic intro Attendance, papers, presentation, participation Digital pictures Reading: Orenstein/Schmitz Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Are you Wednesday, 1/16/2008 Hans Peter Schmitz
Some rules and comments We will take attendance. Advice us before you plan on missing a class. Lindsey. Come to class on time. Complete your assignments on time. Ask questions and come to office hours. If you have any issues preventing you from attending the class regularly, please talk to us asap. Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Some rules and comments Mid-term. Assignment of country for final paper. Assignment of presentation (choose three preferred topics). Random assignment of response papers. Blackboard: your grades. Are there topics you would like to discuss in the class? Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans 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, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
States and transnationalism Are states becoming increasingly irrelevant in a transnational world? Is the separation of ‘domestic’ and ‘international’ disappearing? Are borders a thing of the past? ‘The New Transnationalism and Comparative Politics’ Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
What is ‘new’ about the ‘new transnationalism’? 1970s, First generation (482): a challenge to state-centrism (multinational corporations) 1990s, Second generation (483): a normative agenda and a non- zero sum perspective (transnational advocacy networks) 2000s, Third generation: questioning transnational activism (problems of the transnationalist literature and violent actors) Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Five lessons (484) Globalization is overrated. New forms of collective agency. The state itself is becoming transnational. Hierarchy and geography matter less and less. Beyond the interests/norms divide. Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Beyond globalization (485) Globalization is not a uniform and purely economic process. Creating opportunities for transnational activism. What matters is not if activists go global, but how they do so. Political globalization is conflictual and fragmented. Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Autonomous collective agency (487) Epistemic communities (expertise), IPCC Transnational advocacy networks (norms), AI Norm entrepreneurs (cosmopolitans), R. Lemkin Overlapping authorities Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
The transnational state (490) Increasing horizontal ties across state bureaucracies and to intergovernmental agencies. Development of shared understandings. Examples: World Economic Forum and supranational institutions. Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
New Spheres of Authority (492) New social contract and dispersed authority. Democratic deficit? Are global activists legitimately shaping the lives of Millions? Example: Gates Foundation and global health Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
The Power of Ideas (494) Moral authority (beyond traditional means of power) Knowledge/expertise Constructing identities and interests Logic of appropriateness Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz
Options for comparativists (495) Three choices: 1. Rejection 2. Limited acknowledgment (‘external shocks’) 3. Opportunity to expand comparative methods to global realm. Wednesday, 1/16/2008Hans Peter Schmitz