Transnational political action and ‘global civil society’ in practice: the case of Oxfam

The term ‘global civil society’ has taken on increasing significance within scholarly debate over the past decade. In this article we seek to understand transnational political agency via the study of a particular transnational actor, Oxfam. We argue that various schools of thought surrounding the global civil society concept, in particular the prevailing liberal‐cosmopolitan approach, are unable to conceptualize transnational political action in practice – due largely, in the case of liberal‐cosmopolitanism, to a shared normative agenda. We also assess what contribution literature on development and civil society has made to the analysis of groups such as Oxfam. In investigating Oxfam's own perceptions of its context and the meanings of its agency, we discover an anti‐political perspective derived from an encounter between Oxfam's longstanding commitment to liberal internationalism and globalization discourse. Existing scholarship has insufficiently identified the local or parochial nature of the identities of global civil society actors.     

Labour in global production networks: workers in the qualifying industrial zones (QIZs) of Egypt and Jordan

The role of labour in global production networks (GPNs) requires further theoretical and empirical research. Through the case of the qualifying industrial zones (QIZs) in Egypt and Jordan, I look at how different production and labour control regimes have emerged in the two countries to exploit preferential access to the US market. I analyse how the requirements of US buyers necessitate the building of a flexible, low‐cost, geographically mobile production and labour‐control regime that can meet the needs of buyers in terms of cost, time to market, fluctuations in demand and shifts in sourcing policy. Migrant labour from Asia and the formation of an associated dormitory labour regime facilitated the establishment of such a regime in Jordan. The social embeddedness of workers in Egypt, by contrast, hindered this process.     

The social field of the European corporate elite: a network analysis of interlocking directorates among Europe's largest corporate boards

In this article I investigate the emerging patterns of the European corporate elite network as an example of a European social field, as described by Fligstein. The findings confirm that interlocking directorates form a European corporate network. However, the intercorporate network rests on a very small group of European corporate elite members: it remains the playground of a select few pan‐European ‘big linkers’. Although financial institutions and bankers appear in the upper echelons of the network, they do not occupy crucial positions. Rather, (former) CEOs of Europe's largest big non‐financial businesses knit together the network of interlocking directorates. The network rests on a coalescence of finance and industry, rather than on the dominance of the one over the other. Although the project of European unification has been quite successful in organizing the formal institutional structures, it has not yet led to reproduction of a European business community reminiscent of the national communities.     

Technologies of the spouse: intimate surveillance in Senegalese transnational marriages

Rapid advances in communication technology in the last 20 years have enabled migrants to sustain social and economic investment in multiple geographic locations, or, to be transnational. In this article, by analysing non‐migrant Senegalese women's experiences in marriages with migrant Senegalese men, I critically engage in discussions about the role of technology in transnational family dynamics. In the intimate negotiations of transnational married life, these women feel profoundly ambivalent about the role of communication technologies in their lives. Instead of enabling ‘emotional closeness’, the virtual presence of their absent husbands frequently represents a spectre of suspicion, control and surveillance.     

Bringing the owners back in: An analysis of a 3-mode interlock network

This paper examines the association between ownership and director interlocks in Swedish big business during the period 1990–2005. By analyses of the 3-mode network of owners, firms, and directors, multiple director assignments are shown to be highly dependent on owner interlocks. The findings provide a new understanding of the mechanisms behind the formation of director interlocks. Furthermore, the association between the interlock types suggests that the ownership network may potentially (co-)produce some of the phenomena that have been attributed to the director network. Future analyses of director interlocks have to bring the owners back in.     

Steering the Poverty‐Environment Nexus in Central Asia: A metagovernance analysis of the Poverty‐Environment Initiative (PEI)

The close and reciprocal ties between poverty and environmental degradation present significant potential for simultaneous improvement of the livelihood of the poorest along with increased opportunities and enhanced resilience of the environment and natural resources. By supporting governments and other stakeholders in designing and implementing development plans that tackle environmental and poverty concerns in a joint manner, the globally operating UNDP‐UNEP Poverty‐Environment Initiative (PEI) addresses a major governance challenge for sustainable development (SD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in particular. Focusing on Central Asia, and specifically Tajikistan, a country outside the spotlight of studies concerned with SD governance mechanisms, and through the analysis of PEI programme documents and stakeholders’ interviews, this article probes into the governance and governance co‐ordination (metagovernance) settings for SD. The article closes by presenting a set of recommendations to improve governance co‐ordination, while achieving more inclusive decision‐making and ultimately increasing the impact of PEI on the society and the environment. Specifically, it argues for improved information policy and enhanced integration of endogenous knowledge. Furthermore, national and local development planning and private initiatives should be better linked, and the different levels of governance for poverty‐environment mainstreaming should be more coherent. The solutions discussed are of relevance for wider Central Asia and the global community engaged in moving the SDGs into the mainstream of governance and policy frameworks.     

(Un)becoming Dayak: Intermarriage and the Dynamics of Identity and Belonging in East Kalimantan

Much of the ethnographic literature on East Kalimantan has assumed relatively stable group identities. Intermarriage between different Dayak groups has been frequent, but is usually perceived as leading to swift cultural assimilation of the in-marrying party. Similarly, Dayak-Malay intermarriages have been understood in terms of socio-religious assimilation (masuk Islam). This article suggests that a number of socio-historical developments, including Christian mission work, the spread of formal education and recent advances in regional political autonomy, have resulted in high cultural adaptability among East Kalimantan's ‘Dayaks’, leading to hybrid identity formation. Simultaneously, people of mixed ancestry are confronted with ethno-nationalist revitalisation and often face a problematic lack of belonging, challenging them to become—or un-become—‘Dayak’. This article explores the marital histories and social networks of two extended families in the urban and semi-urban centres of the province. It suggests that children of mixed parentage have cultivated various modes of adaptation to the expectations of Dayak indigenism, often involving the strategic invocation of essentialised ethnic labels (suku).     

The nowhere (wo)man: An example of the defensive use of emptiness in a patient with a schizoid disorder of the self

Schizoid patients often appear bland or faintly repellant to other people and equally often describe themselves as empty and without a self. One aspect of this emptiness is defensive in nature. It is born of the desire to protect the self. Unfortunately, however, defensive emptying serves to weaken the very thing the individual is trying to protect. This article discusses why a person develops this particular method of self protection; describes the devices that serve to sustain the illusion of emptiness; and what happens when, the emptiness begins to give way. A case discussion is used for illustration.     

Still a “female problem”: a framing analysis of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in Chinese online news

Approximately 562 million women in China are at risk for cervical cancer, which is mainly triggered by persistent infections with human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is also responsible for the majority of penile, anal, and oropharynx cancers in men. In this study, online Chinese news content was examined 12?months before and after the approval of the HPV vaccine in China. The coding instrument captured issue-specific and generic frames of the HPV vaccine. The sample of 224 online news articles revealed that headlines about the vaccine tended to be neutral in tone (48.7%); however, 32.1% of the sample did not mention the vaccine. Although information about vaccine efficacy, costs, and the populations recommended for vaccination increased after the approval, other information, such as safety concerns, increased significantly. Although 76.3% of the sample labeled the vaccine as a tool for cervical cancer prevention, they failed to recognize it as a method for preventing sexually transmitted diseases. In the sample, gender bias was present in both the headlines and content of the articles. For example, in the news stories, the consideration of the eligibility of males for vaccination, the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing diseases in men and the use of male exemplars were far from satisfactory. Moreover, the gender bias remained consistent over time. The implications of the findings and the contributions of the study are discussed.     

She persisted: the pursuit,persistence, & power of African American women in social work graduate programs at Historically Black Institutions (HBI)

Social work graduate programs have long grappled with ways to attract and retain students at the intersection of race and gender. The central structure of this analysis is a hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative study on the pursuit and persistence of African-American women in graduate Social Work programs at a Historically Black Institution (HBI). The data in this article were derived from the responses of 13 participants written in their own words. The themes that emerged around the pursuit of a social work degree were (a) service to Black communities, (b) resistance to misrecognition, and (c) a seat at the table. After sharing the salient characteristics of the findings, the article opens a discussion around the significance of HBIs in educating social workers to work in urban communities and the implications for policy and practice.