Rethinking Pathways of Transnational Activism

Abstract

This article presents a novel analytical framework to study transnational activism in the context of today's international governance architecture. While there is a considerable amount of literature on the emergence, development and effects of transnational activism, an integrated framework that analyses the dynamic interplay between activism, transnational institutions and domestic contexts is still lacking. The framework of transnational pathways of influence intends to help close this gap. It integrates insights from social movement research and insights from institutional theorists. This article outlines this framework and exemplifies it by taking the case of transnational activism within the current global governance architecture. It shows that the study of activism across different transnational pathways over time helps to understand the combined effects of activist interventions, institutional co-evolution and interaction as an explanation for the process of selective convergence between global norms and local practices.