International NGO Engagement, Advocacy, Activism


Book Description

The world of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has dramatically changed during the last two decades. The author critically analyses the engagement of INGOs within the contemporary international development landscape, enabling readers to further understand INGOs involvement in the politics of social change.




Routledge Handbook of Humanitarian Communication


Book Description

The Routledge Handbook of Humanitarian Communication is an authoritative and comprehensive guide to research in the academic sub-field of humanitarian communication. It is broadly focused on communication that presents human vulnerability as a cause for public concern and encompasses communication with respect to humanitarian aid and development as well as human rights and "humanitarian" wars. Recent years have seen the expansion of critical scholarship on humanitarian communication across a range of academic fields, sharing recognition of the centrality of media and communications to our understanding of humanitarianism as an agent of transnational power, global governance and cosmopolitan solidarity. The Handbook brings into dialogue these diverse fields, their theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches as well as the public debates that lie at the heart of the contemporary politics of humanitarianism. It consolidates existing knowledge and maps out this emerging field as an important site of interdisciplinary knowledge production on media, communication and humanitarianism. As such, the Handbook is not simply a collection of texts sharing a similar theme. It is a coherent intellectual contribution which systematizes current critical scholarship in terms of Domains, Methods and Issues and sets an agenda of emerging and evolving research priorities in the field. Consisting of 26 chapters written by international scholars, who have contributed to laying the foundation of the field, this volume provides an essential guide to the key ideas, issues, concepts and debates of humanitarian communication.




A Legal Analysis of NGOs and European Civil Society


Book Description

Amid widespread awareness and discussion of “the democratic deficit” and “shrinking civil space,” the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) becomes increasingly important. Yet the precise legal status of such bodies is ill-defined. Here, for the first time, is a thorough commentary and analysis of the position of NGOs and European civil society in the European Union (EU) constitutional system, bringing to the fore existing and desirable means of public participation in EU lawmaking. Recognizing that NGOs have historically been designed to meet the ends of civil society, the analysis focuses on the following topics and issues: means in EU law of advocating for the collective interests of civil society; unofficial means of influencing the EU institutions; access to documents and the European Citizens’ Initiative as means of exerting pressure on EU legislation; relations between the EU institutions and NGOs, including lobbying activities; bringing actions in the common good before courts and other institutions; the special role of NGOs in environmental protection; complaints to the Commission and the European Ombudsman; EU funding for NGOs; and transboundary philanthropy. Drawing on a broad spectrum of sources of law, including CJEU case law and relevant legal literature, the book offers insightful proposals leading to the democratization of the EU’s internal procedures that will allow enhanced cooperation of civil society representatives across national borders. In its thorough examination of legal tools that can respond to the “democratic deficit,” this book makes a distinctive contribution to the public debate on the future of the European Union, especially in the context of emerging threats to further integration. It will prove of great value not only to civil activists, academics and policymakers but also to everyone interested in European integration and affordance for social participation.




The Oxford Handbook of Governance and Limited Statehood


Book Description

Unpacking the major debates, this Oxford Handbook brings together leading authors of the field to provide a state-of-the-art guide to governance in areas of limited statehood where state authorities lack the capacity to implement and enforce central decision and/or to uphold the monopoly over the means of violence. While areas of limited statehood can be found everywhere - not just in the global South -, they are neither ungoverned nor ungovernable. Rather, a variety of actors maintain public order and safety, as well as provide public goods and services. While external state 'governors' and their interventions in the global South have received special scholarly attention, various non-state actors - from NGOs to business to violent armed groups - have emerged that also engage in governance. This evidence holds for diverse policy fields and historical cases. The Handbook gives a comprehensive picture of the varieties of governance in areas of limited statehood from interdisciplinary perspectives including political science, geography, history, law, and economics. 29 chapters review the academic scholarship and explore the conditions of effective and legitimate governance in areas of limited statehood, as well as its implications for world politics in the twenty-first century. The authors examine theoretical and methodological approaches as well as historical and spatial dimensions of areas of limited statehood, and deal with the various governors as well as their modes of governance. They cover a variety of issue areas and explore the implications for the international legal order, for normative theory, and for policies toward areas of limited statehood.




The Authority Trap


Book Description

Not all international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) are created equal, Some have emerged as "leading INGOs" that command deference from various powerful audiences and are well-positioned to influence the practices of states, corporations, and other INGOs. Yet Sarah S. Stroup and Wendy H. Wong make a strong case for the tenuous nature of this position: in order to retain their authority, INGOs such as Greenpeace, Oxfam, and Amnesty International refrain from expressing radical opinions that severely damage their long-term reputation. Stroup and Wong contend such INGOs must constantly adjust their behavior to maintain a delicate equilibrium that preserves their status. Activists, scholars, and students seeking to understand how international organizations garner and conserve power—and how this affects their ability to fulfill their stated missions—will find much of value in The Authority Trap. The authors use case studies that illuminate how INGOs are received by three main audiences: NGO peers, state policymakers, and corporations. In the end, the authors argue, the more authority an INGO has, the more constrained is its ability to affect the conduct of world politics.




Media Representations of Anti-Austerity Protests in the EU


Book Description

This book analyzes constructions of injustice, group identification and participation in news and social media in anti-austerity protests within the European Union (EU). Since 2008, EU member-states have witnessed waves of protests and demonstrations against the adoption of austerity measures and alignment of domestic economies with the prevailing global neoliberal order. Understanding how the media represents dissent and how it influences public deliberation is of critical importance. It is accordingly necessary to explore the strategies deployed and role played by news and social media in representing and perhaps acting upon anti-austerity protests in the Eurozone crisis. This volume undertakes such a critical exploration.




Media and Communications Policy Making


Book Description

This textbook focuses on how media and communications policy is made and what influences its design. It explores the structures and processes in which policymaking takes place worldwide, the factors that determine its forms, influence its elements, and affect its outcomes. It explores how to analyze policy proposals, evaluate policy, and use policy studies approaches to examine policy and policymaking. Truly international in scope, it lays out the variety of political, social, economic, and institutional influences on policy, the roles of industries and policy advocates in the processes, and issues and factors that complicate effective policymaking and skew policy outcomes. This textbook is a valuable resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students.




Non-state Actors in the Arctic Region


Book Description

This book comprehensively discusses the role that non-state actors play in the Arctic and assesses the normative role of these actors. Beyond any organised forum, there are actors that have a significant impact on the way the Arctic is developed, adjudicated, managed, perceived, presented and represented. This book complements the literature on non-state actors in international law and international security, world politics and international relations and provides a geographical account of their role for the Arctic. The book content is not limited to a specific discipline, but takes into account different approaches to the topic. This means that it contains three types of contributions: research articles, shorter research notes and commentaries. While the research articles constitute the main body of the work, it is also the research notes which provide an insight into issues related to the topic of the book.




The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Media


Book Description

The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Media provides the first comprehensive account of the role of translation in the media, which has become a thriving area of research in recent decades. It offers theoretical and methodological perspectives on translation and media in the digital age, as well as analyses of a wide diversity of media contexts and translation forms. Divided into four parts with an editor introduction, the 33 chapters are written by leading international experts and provide a critical survey of each area with suggestions for further reading. The Handbook aims to showcase innovative approaches and developments, bridging the gap between currently separate disciplinary subfields and pointing to potential synergies and broad research topics and issues. With a broad-ranging, critical and interdisciplinary perspective, this Handbook is an indispensable resource for all students and researchers of translation studies, audiovisual translation, journalism studies, film studies and media studies.




Faith-Based Organizations in Development Discourses and Practice


Book Description

Exploring faith-based organizations (FBOs) in current developmental discourses and practice, this book presents a selection of empirical in-depth case-studies of Christian FBOs and assesses the vital role credited to FBOs in current discourses on development. Examining the engagement of FBOs with contemporary politics of development, the contributions stress the agency of FBOs in diverse contexts of development policy, both local and global. It is emphasised that FBOs constitute boundary agents and developmental entrepreneurs: they move between different discursive fields such as national and international development discourses, theological discourses, and their specific religious constituencies. By combining influxes from these different contexts, FBOs generate unique perspectives on development: they express alternative views on development and stress particular approaches anchored in their theological social ethics. This book should be of interest to those researching FBOs and their interaction with international organizations, and to scholars working in the broader areas of religion and politics and politics and development.