Paper/Proposal Title
From Principle to Pragmatism: The Motivational Life Cycle of Transnational Democracy and Human Rights Movements
Location
River Campus, Room M2265
Start Date
10-4-2013 1:00 PM
Abstract
This paper sets out to solve a puzzle: Why is it that some democracy and human rights groups choose to engage in transnational activism? Why are they investing in overcoming the significant financial, political, and cultural costs of working across borders? Previous works on social movements and non-state actors in international affairs disagree about why civic groups undertake transnational work. Some authors portray these groups as normatively motivated actors, guided by solidarity with activists abroad. Other authors describe those NGOs as pragmatic actors, chasing funding and valuing survival over their mission. This paper proposes a solution to this debate, asking: When do democracy and human rights NGOs choose to work transitionally for principled reasons and when do they act pragmatically?
This paper develops and tests a theory of the motivations of democracy and human rights NGOs for participating in transnational activism, proposing that these motivations change over time and follow a cycle from principled to pragmatic. The argument here is that such activism emerges around a core of solidarity-motivated actors, but over time pragmatic considerations, such as obtaining resources and legitimacy, become a leading motivation for some of the latest projects of the movement. In other words, while both principled and pragmatic motivations drive the activism of democracy and human rights NGOs that work across borders, the overall importance of these two types of motivations to each transnational movement changes over time.
The paper tests this theorization by explaining the transnational democracy and human rights activism of the NGOs from the Eastern European member-states of the EU. Transnational democracy and human rights activism represents a crucial case for both the principled and the pragmatic accounts of transnational activism, while the Eastern EU countries represent new cases against which to test and refine previous theories of transnational activism. These cases also correct a bias in this literature that regards non- Western societies primarily as recipients of such activism.
This study makes two main contributions to the literature. First, the paper offers a solution to the debate about the motivation of democracy and human rights NGOs for engaging in transnational activism. Second, this paper addresses the general neglect of the normative leadership of non-Western/Eastern European societies and of their motivations for participating in the diffusion of the norms and values underlying the international liberal order.
From Principle to Pragmatism: The Motivational Life Cycle of Transnational Democracy and Human Rights Movements
River Campus, Room M2265
This paper sets out to solve a puzzle: Why is it that some democracy and human rights groups choose to engage in transnational activism? Why are they investing in overcoming the significant financial, political, and cultural costs of working across borders? Previous works on social movements and non-state actors in international affairs disagree about why civic groups undertake transnational work. Some authors portray these groups as normatively motivated actors, guided by solidarity with activists abroad. Other authors describe those NGOs as pragmatic actors, chasing funding and valuing survival over their mission. This paper proposes a solution to this debate, asking: When do democracy and human rights NGOs choose to work transitionally for principled reasons and when do they act pragmatically?
This paper develops and tests a theory of the motivations of democracy and human rights NGOs for participating in transnational activism, proposing that these motivations change over time and follow a cycle from principled to pragmatic. The argument here is that such activism emerges around a core of solidarity-motivated actors, but over time pragmatic considerations, such as obtaining resources and legitimacy, become a leading motivation for some of the latest projects of the movement. In other words, while both principled and pragmatic motivations drive the activism of democracy and human rights NGOs that work across borders, the overall importance of these two types of motivations to each transnational movement changes over time.
The paper tests this theorization by explaining the transnational democracy and human rights activism of the NGOs from the Eastern European member-states of the EU. Transnational democracy and human rights activism represents a crucial case for both the principled and the pragmatic accounts of transnational activism, while the Eastern EU countries represent new cases against which to test and refine previous theories of transnational activism. These cases also correct a bias in this literature that regards non- Western societies primarily as recipients of such activism.
This study makes two main contributions to the literature. First, the paper offers a solution to the debate about the motivation of democracy and human rights NGOs for engaging in transnational activism. Second, this paper addresses the general neglect of the normative leadership of non-Western/Eastern European societies and of their motivations for participating in the diffusion of the norms and values underlying the international liberal order.
Comments
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