Narrating Geopolitics: Strategic Narratives of Georgia’s EU Candidacy

This paper investigates how civil society organisations (CSOs) navigate and reshape geopolitical narratives within the European Union’s evolving candidacy framework. By highlighting the performed inclusivity of EU narratives, it offers a nuanced perspective on the socio-political dynamics of accession processes and promotes a more pluralistic interpretation of the EU candidacy approach. Focusing on Georgia's EU candidacy application, it examines how CSOs, situated in semi-peripheral borderlands, address the complexities of accession processes, structural inequalities and the exclusionary practices embedded in performed inclusivity. The analysis unfolds in three parts. First, it situates the study within the broader context of the politicisation of EU candidacy narratives and introduces the conceptual framework based on relational narratives. Building on the scholarship of strategic narratives and structural narratives, it explores how relational approaches can contribute to the pluralistic understanding of emerging narratives. Second, in a methodological section, it outlines the empirical approach to study relational narratives, based on narrative analysis. Third, through engaging with Georgia’s EU candidacy application process, it analyses how civil society organisations narrate Georgia’s candidacy to address the geopolitical tensions through relational narratives, highlighting their efforts to contest the EU’s limited geopolitical framing. In conclusion, the paper discusses how civil society organisations use relational narratives and offer a nuanced understanding of the socio-political dynamics of accession processes, advocating for more pluralistic interpretations of the EU’s borderlands to counter performed inclusivity.

Climate change strategic narratives in the United Kingdom: Emergency, Extinction, Effectiveness

ABSTRACTThis article examines how the Russian state promotes and protects its preferred self-identity, using the conceptual framework of ‘strategic narrative’. Nation branding practices, including state-funded ‘mega-projects’ like the Sochi Olympics, have contributed to the narrative by characterising Russia as a welcoming, attractive destination. However, a more salient feature of Russia’s strategic narrative is intense ‘anti-Western’ and ‘anti-American’ political and media discourse, formulated to defend against rival, threatening narratives projected from other countries. Through analysis of official statements and state television content, this article demonstrates how determination to protect ‘great power’ and ‘European’ identities underlay Russia’s strategic narrative in 2014. It considers responses which the narrative has prompted, arguing that desired results in domestic reception have been achieved at the expense of unsatisfactory results internationally. Heavy-handed attacks on the identities of other states boost collective self-esteem among Russian citizens, but they fail to produce – and arguably obstruct – desired responses among foreign audiences.

In this qualitative research study, a method to develop the capability of international nursing students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (ICALD) to participate with members of an Australian community of nursing practice was explored. This was done by providing participants with an opportunity to participate in a specifically designed immersive simulation program. In this research study, the situated learning perspective of communities of practice, based on Wenger's (1998) conceptual framework, is adopted. This perspective enabled the exploration of ICALD nursing students' participation with members of an Australian community of nursing practice, not only as involving the negotiation of social and cultural expectations of learning, but also their re-negotiation of identities as learners. Two research questions were explored: 1. In what ways may the concept of Communities of Practice be used as a framework for the design of immersive simulation? 2. In what way may immersive simulations informed by Communities of Practice develop the capability of international nursing students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to participate within Australian communities of nursing practice? A two-phase case study methodology was employed, drawing on data from ICALD students enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing program at one Australian university. In Phase One, five ICALD students described their experiences and perceptions of the first clinical placement in Australia. These findings were then interpreted through Wenger's (1998) lens of Communities of Practice to inform the design of three immersive simulations. In Phase Two, a total of seven ICALD nursing students participated, and these findings are represented in two case studies. Their experiences and perceptions of the immersive simulation program were uncovered. Whilst all Phase Two participants were located in the same physical context, the ways in which the participants perceived their social relations with members of an Australian community of nursing practice, and interacted with these members and each other during the immersive simulation program differed. These differences helped to illuminate understanding into ways of facilitating ICALD nursing students' participation with members of an Australian community of nursing practice. The findings from this research support five propositions regarding the influence of Communities of Practice as a design for learning in the form of immersive simulation: (1) significant meaningful learning occurs from exploring participation and non-participation through simulations that replicate everyday nursing practice; (2) competence from a Communities of Practice perspective facilitates understanding of learning as an ongoing process of becoming; (3) mutual engagement affords access to the joint enterprise and shared repertoire; (4) negotiation of multimembership must explore cultural difference in relation to participation; and (5) simulation represents a boundary object, which facilitates connections between communities of practice. Significantly, the research findings supported the development of The Situated Learning Design Framework for Simulation. Gaps in the current literature are addressed in this thesis. This study represents a step forward in understanding healthcare simulation design. Importantly, this research illuminates ways in which to facilitate the development of ICALD nursing students' identities of participation within an Australian community of nursing practice. It does this by proposing a more holistic application of Wenger's (1998) framework of CoP to nursing simulation.

Following the 2015-peak of asylum-seeking migrants in Europe, asylum-policies have become increasingly restrictive. As bordering has become a prioritized issue among many European national governments, including in the Nordic countries, practices of bordering have also become more decentralised, diffuse and dispersed. This special issue set focus on such bordering practices as these are manifest in the social service sector. It draws on research conducted in Norway and Sweden and consists, besides this introduction, of seven original articles.Of particular focus is how social work, in its regulations and practices, are involved in the bordering of both the nation and the welfare state. Connecting insights from border studies – and related critical research – with social work research, the articles present empirical analyses of the dynamics of bordering practices among varying practitioners and in varying organizations, including legislators, courts, municipalities, street-level social workers and civil society organizations. The special issue as a whole also raises questions about the ethical and political challenges that emerge at the nexus of bordering and social service provision. In this introductory article, we provide an overview of the field of border studies and discuss how it relates to social work research. This serves as a conceptual foundation which we hope will enable critical reflections on the relationships between social service provision and bordering practices in Norway, Sweden and beyond.

How do host states attempt to speed up returns of refugees before peacebuilding and the lack of official arrangements with the home state? Building on the conceptual framework, which coalesces governing practices, strategic narratives, and issue linkages, the article explains the early stages of policy formulation and discourses on refugee returns. Empirically, it draws from Turkey’s return initiatives targeting Syrians since 2016. It argues that the Turkish government seeks to advance in (1) practices promoting self-organized voluntary returns of a small number of refugees and (2) the preparation of ground for mass repatriation and resettlement back to Northern Syria. The strategic return narrative has 2-fold target audiences and aims. While keeping the domestic constituency stands as the main motivation by conveying the message of ‘Syrians are returning’, legitimizing unilateral cross-border interventions targets the international audience. The article contributes to the lack of research on the governance of refugee returns by examining the host states’ strategic narrating in relation to the domestic and geopolitical interests.

Strategic narratives now face unrealistic expectations as to what they can achieve in the military field. This article asks when and how such narratives lose traction during protracted military interventions. To address these questions, which are crucial at a time when so much modern warfare takes place in the “fourth” dimension, this study develops a conceptual framework that focuses initially on the weakening of a narrative’s content and, subsequently, on its loss of normative resonance and verisimilitude. The latter two factors are beyond the control of even the most skilful strategic narrator, particularly where narratives are required to appeal to audiences with different norms. Our framework is applied to the case of France’s military operations in Mali (Serval) and the Western Sahel (Barkhane). It finds that, whereas France’s compelling Serval narrative was congruent with strong French and Malian public backing, its Barkhane narrative weakened over time, resonating less with prevailing societal norms, becoming less attuned to events on the ground and ultimately coinciding with a sharp decline in public support in France and Mali. It concludes that strategic narratives afford agency to policymakers but are constantly open to contestation and struggle to cope with diverse audiences and deteriorating “evenemential” contexts.

Restricting NGOs: From Pushback to Accommodation

Recognizing the great potential of civil society organizations (CSOs) as drivers of social change, this study examines how CSOs’ work directed towards consumers—in this case, to make food consumption sustainable—could be analyzed and improved through insights in practice theory. This research scope adds to the sustainable consumption literature by shifting the lens from the rich body of scholarship examining the practices of households or organizations themselves to how CSOs can influence household practices. Interviews with five different Swedish CSOs serve as the study's main empirical basis. To analyze CSO activities that target households, we use practice theorist Alan Warde's well-established categorization of four integrative social practices of eating: (1) the supplying of food, (2) cooking, (3) the organization of meal occasions, and (4) aesthetic judgments of taste. Unlike some perspectives in sustainable consumption research that focus on consumer attitudes and behavioral change, a practice theory perspective encourages a view of consumption patterns as arising from complex and necessarily social configurations of human action formed in relation to evolving infrastructures and institutions in a cultural and historical context. In agreement with this, we suggest that the CSOs would generally benefit from focusing on particular practices, practice elements, and communities of practice. The different preconditions under which CSOs operate—such as material resource constraints and symbolic power resources—should further inform their chosen types of activities. However, we also conclude that the scale of the necessary societal changes ultimately requires increased integration and coordination of practical and political activities, not just among CSOs but throughout all spheres of society. Finally, we briefly outline avenues for further research.

This paper seeks to advance existing knowledge on China’s COVID-19 diplomacy by drawing on the conceptual framework of strategic narratives, which highlights the centrality of communication in international affairs. We also expand this framework by pointing to the need to examine how such narratives are appropriated by local political elites and the media in recipient countries. Empirically, we focus on Serbia, a country whose political elites and public opinion have grown increasingly sympathetic to China in recent years. We draw on a novel, in-depth narrative analysis of a sample covering three years (2020–2022), focusing on the narrative roles of the key actors. We show that Serbian media initially amplified Chinese strategic narratives, which featured China as the leading protagonist and emphasized its successful management of the pandemic but soon shifted to endorsing narratives promoted by Serbian leaders, which foregrounded Serbia’s own agency. Apart from contributing to a better understanding of the effectiveness of the impact of China's global influence, our findings also have wider theoretical and methodological implications for our understanding of the role of media in public diplomacy and foreign policy studies.

The findings presented here are based on a seven month research study conducted by the author in 2013/14 as part of her PhD dissertation. The study sought to examine the societal role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Turkey. Five key questions guided this research. They were: How does the state and other powerful political actors (i.e. the European Union) influence CSOs?; What are the societal role of CSOs?; Do CSOs advance democracy and specifically women’s rights?; What is the nature of interaction between different categories of CSOs?; How do CSOs operate within the specific socio-political context of Turkey? A total of 50 qualitative interviews were conducted with CSOs from across the seven geographical regions of Turkey. The majority (38 of 50) of these interviews were with women’s CSOs, and it is the information to emerge from these interviews which is summarised here. This document is the short research report which was shared by the author with the women's organisations interviewed and is available in both English and Turkish.

There is an increasing interest in the relationship between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local governments in terms of social spending in developing countries. However, the current literature on NGOs and social spending, especially for those pertaining to developing countries and Ghana in particular, does not examine the extent to which NGOs’ presence shapes local authorities’ spending on the provision of basic social amenities. This study examines NGOs’ presence on constituents’ opinion about local government social spending. Using the probit regression estimation approach, this study found that services provided by NGOs might be allowing local government authorities to change their spending patterns and priorities. Thus, the presence of NGOs tends to crowd-out social spending in the Upper West region. To the extent that proliferation of NGOs lowers social spending, local government authorities might also be taking advantage of NGOs operations to neglect their constitutionally mandated responsibility of providing basic social amenities in their communities of practice. This article discusses key implications for policy.

Alcohol is a major cause of health and social costs and harms in Canada. While research and awareness of harms caused by alcohol are on the rise, few transdisciplinary platforms exist that are committed to facilitating bold alcohol policy change to reduce health inequities and improve lives. In response to feedback heard during engagement for the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation project, an alcohol policy-focused community of practice (CoP) was launched in January 2022. Webinars, roundtable discussions, working group meetings, networking events, and a digital platform allow practitioners from various sectors (e.g. public health, alcohol regulation and distribution, public safety, justice, non-governmental organizations), researchers, and people with lived/living experience (PWLLE) to connect, share experiences and resources, and build capacity. More than 500 members have joined the CoP from all Canadian provinces and territories, and international jurisdictions. CoP members engage in learning opportunities, contribute to letter-writing campaigns in support of alcohol policy initiatives, and lead a working group focused on alcohol warning labels. Through the CoP, members report gaining and applying new knowledge in their work, while also establishing valuable connections and collaborations that have supported positive change. This cross-jurisdictional, intersectoral alcohol policy CoP facilitates knowledge sharing, networking, and collaboration among practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and PWLLE, while contributing to public health efforts to prevent alcohol harms. Furthermore, as transdisciplinary approaches continue to be prioritized in research and practice, this CoP offers an example that could be applied to other public health initiatives.

Local Food Plus (LFP) is a non-governmental organisation that blurs the lines between traditional community and private sector functions by creating space for buyers and sellers to meet; building trust among diverse food-system actors; and creating new markets for goods. This article uses a participatory action research method to explore these functions in detail. The first section examines how LFP has both emerged from a community of food practice and in turn become a pivot in creating new communities of practice within values-based food chains. The second section identifies and analyses the diversity of tools that have proven essential to LFP's model. The third section examines how LFP has contributed to alternative norm construction by balancing various conventions. Finally, the fourth section explains LFP's engagement with the state and other “strange bedfellows” to advance change, to ultimately comment on LFP's role in fostering food hub development.

• Civil society has become one of the most popular concepts within international development discourses. But, what is civil society? Civil society is defined as an arena of collective social interaction situated between the state, market and household, encompassing a range of non-state organisations, groups and associations, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The article assesses the range of different interpretations of civil society highlighting its diverse makeup at local, national and transnational scales. • Why has civil society become so important within international development? Democracy and delivery of services. As people organised collectively against totalitarian regimes in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and the Global South, civil society emerged as a manifestation of democratisation processes. The neoliberal agenda also wanted to capture and channel civil society to foster democracy, but also to take on service delivery functions as the role of the state diminished. This article outlines how these roles relate to two theoretical viewpoints – the Marxist or Gramscian that sees civil society as a site of resistance and counterhegemony, and the liberal democratic that views it as a beneficial force for good. • Civil society in practice. In the 1990s, development agencies championed civil society from an undertheorised liberal democratic viewpoint as a saviour or ‘magic bullet’ as it channels more and more funds via NGOs. But, civil society has increasingly been criticised as undemocratic, unable to reach the poor and unaccountable. This article describes this evolution. • The emergence of global or transnational society. In these days of globalisation, global civil society is increasingly important. This is neither civil society at a global level, nor is it a unified global force for good, lobbying and challenging the neoliberal order. Instead, viewed as ‘transnational civil society’, it is a complex mix of competing, overlapping and intersecting groups that operate beyond national borders for a range of reasons. Especially important actors in transnational