Growing recognition of transnational practices and identities is changing the way scholars and activists ask questions about migration. Organizing the Transnational articulates a multi-level cultural politics of transnationalism to frame contemporary analyses of immigration and diasporas. With chapters by academics and activists working from diverse perspectives, the volume moves beyond the conventional focus on states and migrants to consider a wide array of institutions, actors, and forms of mobilization that shape transnational engagements and communities. Its unique approach will inform the work of researchers, practitioners, and activists interested in the dynamics of transnational social spaces.

In the expanding academic literature on accountability, there remains significant ambiguity about the scope and content of this concept. Boström and Garsten have performed an invaluable service to scholars by providing a fresh focus on how accountability is actually organized in practice. Their intelligently edited collection pulls together a range of disciplinary perspectives on the new organizational settings and instruments engaged with accountability norms. This volume is an excellent contribution both to organizational theory and wider research on transnational governance. Michael Mason, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK This book adds a multi-disciplinary organizational perspective to the theoretical analysis of political accountability and argues for a broadening of the conventional understanding of the concepts of responsibility and accountability. There is increasing pressure for accountability, driven by such factors as the globalization of markets, media reports of corporate misconduct, environmental destruction and the violation of human rights. In response, this book focuses on the development of accountability tools and techniques as well as on the organizational arrangements and political struggles behind such endeavours. This unique study theorizes the emerging accountability and corporate social responsibility movement at the transnational level. It focuses on an increasingly recognized aspect of transnational organizational life, which is often mentioned in recent literature, yet sparsely analysed. Organizing Transnational Accountability will be an important and invaluable read for researchers, policymakers and students of social anthropology, sociology, organization theory, political science and critical accounting at graduate levels and above.

The Anti-Homosexuality (dubbed “Kill the Gays”) Bill of 2009 propelled Uganda to the forefront of global media. In its initial manifestation, the Bill threatened to penalize “aggravated homosexuality” with the death penalty. The media attention earned by the proposed legislation opened avenues for transnational cooperation and communication between US-based Human and LGBTI Rights organizations and kuchu (or LGBTI) Ugandans. The Economies of Queer Inclusion focuses on this transnational relationship and the complications that arise when international currency and professionalization transform grassroots organizing. This book excavates how transnational advocacy, which aims to empower LGBTI rights activism, actually restructures and, in some cases, limits local movements. With interview and ethnographic data with activists in Kampala, Uganda and New York City, the research highlights how the introduction of international attention and funding causes organizations to restructure their movement goals and strategies in order to best attract desired partners. The funder-funded relationship causes both local discord and transnational divestment from alternative forms of organizing. The research presents a compelling, counter-narrative that exposes that the development of this economy did not occur because of the Anti-Homosexuality, but rather inspired the legislation and then peaked in the five years following. As an engaged, ethnographic look into a social justice movement, the text explores organizational structures and activist strategies in order to critique and strengthen future mobilization. Accordingly, the text applies various sociological and critical race theories to provide an incisive and in-depth exploration of a powerful political moment.

Over the years many transnational labor alliances have succeeded in improving conditions for workers, but many more have not. In The New Politics of Transnational Labor, Marissa Brookes explains why this dichotomy has occurred. Using the coordination and context-appropriate (CCAP) theory, she assesses this divergence, arguing that the success of transnational alliances hinges not only on effective coordination across borders and within workers' local organizations but also on their ability to exploit vulnerabilities in global value chains, invoke national and international institutions, and mobilize networks of stakeholders in ways that threaten employers' core, material interests. Brookes uses six comparative case studies spanning four industries, five countries, and fifteen years. From dockside labor disputes in Britain and Australia to service sector campaigns in the supermarket and private security industries to campaigns aimed at luxury hotels in Southeast Asia, Brookes creates her new theoretical framework and speaks to debates in international and comparative political economy on the politics of economic globalization, the viability of private governance, and the impact of organized labor on economic inequality. From this assessment, Brookes provides a vital update to the international relations literature on non-state actors and transnational activism and shows how we can understand the unique capacities labor has as a transnational actor.

This book is the first comprehensive account of the International Labour Organization’s 100-year history. At its heart is the concept of global social policy, which encompasses not only social policy in its national and international dimensions, but also development policy, world trade, international migration and human rights. The book focuses on the ILO’s roles as a key player in debates on poverty, social justice, wealth distribution and social mobility subjects and as a global forum for addressing these issues. The study puts in perspective the manifold ways in which the ILO has helped structure these debates and has made – through its standard-setting, technical cooperation and myriad other activities – practical contributions to the world of work and to global social policy.

Who controls how transnational issues are defined and treated? In recent decades professional coordination on a range of issues has been elevated to the transnational level. International organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and firms all make efforts to control these issues. This volume shifts focus away from looking at organizations and zooms in on how professional networks exert control in transnational governance. It contributes to research on professions and expertise, policy entrepreneurship, normative emergence, and change. The book provides a framework for understanding how professionals and organizations interact, and uses it to investigate a range of transnational cases. The volume also deploys a strong emphasis on methodological strategies to reveal who controls transnational issues, including network, sequence, field, and ethnographic approaches. Bringing together scholars from economic sociology, international relations, and organization studies, the book integrates insights from across fields to reveal how professionals obtain and manage control over transnational issues.

Whereas most of the literature on migration focuses on individuals and their families, this book studies the organizations created by immigrants to protect themselves in their receiving states. Comparing eighteen of these grassroots organizations formed across the world, from India to Colombia to Vietnam to the Congo, researchers from the United States, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Spain focus their studies on the internal structure and activities of these organizations as they relate to developmental initiatives. The book outlines the principal positions in the migration and development debate and discusses the concept of transnationalism as a means of resolving these controversies.

Explores the social and political developments that have energized movements of global feminism Increasingly feminists around the world have successfully campaigned for recognition of women's full personhood and empowerment. Global Feminism explores the social and political developments that have energized this movement. Drawn from an international group of scholars and activists, the authors of these original essays assess both the opportunities that transnationalism has created and the tensions it has inadvertently fostered. By focusing on both the local and global struggles of today's feminist activists this important volume reveals much about women's changing rights, treatment and impact in the global world. Contributors: Melinda Adams, Aida Bagic, Yakin Ertürk, Myra Marx Ferree, Amy G. Mazur, Dorothy E. McBride, Hilkka Pietilä, Tetyana Pudrovska, Margaret Snyder, Sarah Swider, Aili Mari Tripp, Nira Yuval-Davis.

Taking an ethnographic approach to the topic, Brooks analyzes the logic, origins, objectives, and consequences of three transnational consumer-oriented protest campaigns against abusive labor practices in the globalized garment manufacturing industry. Throughout her analysis is the idea of women's bodies as central to production, consumption, and protest. Other issues explored include agency and citizenship in a US-sponsored campaign against child labor in Bangladesh; the possibilities of transnational labor organizing in the wake of the 1980s civil war in El Salvador; symbolic politics of gender, race, class, and celebrity in a union protest campaign against Wal-Mart subcontractors; and labor regulation and discipline on the factory floor and in protest campaigns.