Abstract
“Is the traditional divide between domestic and international politics breaking down?” and, if so, with what effects on transnational human rights activism? This paper argues that small and focused transnational campaigns can have dramatic short-term results that its large-scale and bureaucratic cousins are too slow-moving to effect; it illustrates the importance of often-fleeting political opportunities in opening windows for non-state public action; and using four different transnational campaigns, it shows how loosely coupled mechanisms and processes link domestic and international politics.
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Notes
In a comment on an earlier version of this paper, Jan Aart Scholte—himself no mean critic of globalization—proposed the label “worldism” as an alternative to my less all-embracing notion of transnational contention. I am not sure this is any less global than “globalization,” but Scholte’s rebuttal is salutary in reminding us that contention is multilevel, and not merely between national and transnational contention.
Schattle studied a large sample of printed materials from the 1990s and found that the use of the term “global citizenship” increased by over 350 between 1991 and 2000.
Of course, marches are not the only form that transnational collective action can take. Consider, for example, the European Social Forums. The second ESF, held in Paris in November 2003, included significant participation on the part of “les sans”—literally, “those without”. See Giraud et al. (2005).
Merry reports that by 2000, there were 242 overdue reports to CEDAW from 165 state parties to the treaty. Overall, 78% of state parties had overdue reports, many file superficial reports, and some do not even send representatives to meetings. See Merry pp. 87–88 for these findings.
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An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Workshop on Non-Governmental Public Action, London School of Economics, May 7–9, 2008. I am grateful to Jennifer Hadden, Jude Howell, Jack Kligerman, Ken Roberts, Benita Roth, Kathryn Sikkink, Charles Tilly, Kiyoteru Tsutsui, and the participants in the Columbia University Contentious Politics Workshop for useful comments on a first version of this talk, which was discussed at the Columbia Workshop, and to Hung Jen Wang for his speedy and accurate research assistance.
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Tarrow, S. Outsiders Inside and Insiders Outside: Linking Transnational and Domestic Public Action for Human Rights. Hum Rights Rev 11, 171–182 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-009-0115-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-009-0115-5