Global Activity Research Articles

Introduction: Shaping a Global Horizon, New Histories of the Global South and the UN

This introduction lays out the agenda for this special issue. We argue for more inclusive histories of the UN system which incorporate the role of the Global South in shaping its past and present. In general, we ask: how have the Global South actors and coalitions/formations critiqued, interrogated, nuanced, and advanced the principles and practice of liberal world order? In order to set up the conceptual context for the essays in the collection, we argue that the “Global South” is neither a place nor a project. Instead, our methodological engagements with this idea ought to configure it as an assemblage of multifarious actors, motives, methods, and means.

Exporting peace? The EU mediator’s normative backpack

AbstractOn the occasion of the launch of the European Law Open, this article analyses two policy documents of the European Union (EU) on its ambitions in peace mediation, to think about what it could mean for European law to be open to the world. Reading these documents – ‘the Concepts’ – through the lens of the theme that I have been assigned for this opening issue – ‘Europe in the world’ – one discerns an outward-looking EU searching for a greater role in the international field of peace mediation. One also sees instances of eurocentrism: a set of assumptions about the superiority of European (or ‘western’) ways of knowing and doing. In these Concepts, the EU envisages sending EU mediators into the world – either to mediate themselves or to support mediation efforts by others. The Concepts also contain increasingly long lists of EU values to be carried along and distributed during peace mediation. But the Concepts do not consider that in the countries where the EU mediator arrives, this backpack filled with normative baggage may bring other associations. Without more explicit recognition of the EU’s obstinate baggage, the EU is unlikely to be an effective peace mediator or, indeed, a credible global actor. More generally, critical reflexivity could help the EU to address the lingering Eurocentric tendencies that these Concepts reveal. Such critical questioning by the EU of its own assumptions, as well as learning from perspectives from outside the EU or the past, can be a process of focusing on Europe in order to decentre it. That, then, could also be a mission for this bold new European journal.

How are global health policies transferred to sub-Saharan Africa countries? A systematic critical review of literature

BackgroundMost sub-Saharan Africa countries adopt global health policies. However, mechanisms with which policy transfers occur have largely been studied amongst developed countries and much less in low- and middle- income countries. The current review sought to contribute to literature in this area by exploring how health policy agendas have been transferred from global to national level in sub-Saharan Africa. This is particularly important in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) era as there are many policy prepositions by global actors to be transferred to national level for example the World Health Organization (WHO) policy principles of health financing reforms that advance Universal Health Coverage (UHC).MethodsWe conducted a critical review of literature following Arksey and O’Malley framework for conducting reviews. We searched EBSCOhost, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google scholar for articles. We combined the concepts and synonyms of “policy transfer” with those of “sub-Saharan Africa” using Boolean operators in searching databases. Data were analyzed thematically, and results presented narratively.ResultsNine articles satisfied our eligibility criteria. The predominant policy transfer mechanism in the health sector in sub-Saharan Africa is voluntarism. There are cases of coercion, however, even in the face of coercion, there is usually some level of negotiation. Agency, context and nature of the issue are key influencers in policy transfers. The transfer is likely to be smooth if it is mainly technical and changes are within the confines of a given disease programmatic area. Policies with potential implications on bureaucratic and political status quo are more challenging to transfer.ConclusionPolicy transfer, irrespective of the mechanism, requires local alignment and appreciation of context by the principal agents, availability of financial resources, a coordination platform and good working relations amongst stakeholders. Potential effects of the policy on the bureaucratic structure and political status are also important during the policy transfer process.

Global Non-State Actors (2020)

Global Non-State Actors (2020)

Between the environment and the economy: foreign investments, global conservation, and Indigenous nations in the Amazon

ABSTRACT Where is the communities’ voice when their territories are intervened by either extractive projects advanced by transnational corporations or environmental initiatives advanced by global conservation actors? These actors allege that their projects deeply engage with sustainable development, in practice, however, national policies and governmental actions over the forests tend to prioritizing the environmental or the economic angle of sustainability, obscuring the political aspirations of Indigenous nations. By analysing these interventions in the Peruvian Amazon, this paper explores how Indigenous peoples’ political agency is located between these two global forces. Nonetheless, by using the discourse and standards of internationally recognized indigenous rights, they fight for the recognition of their nationhood and territorial entitlements as well as for their self-determination to engage with economic and environmental agendas from their own worldviews.

Every rung counts–A retrospective analysis of global sanitation progress across the service-level ladder under the MDGs

The household sanitation target during the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) period used a binary “Improved”/”Unimproved” metric to evaluate progress. The “Unimproved” category was divided into three service levels: Shared Sanitation (facilities acceptable), Unimproved Facilities, and Open Defecation (no facility). Despite these data being publicly available, no analysis of country-level progress across these sanitation service levels during the MDGs has been published. We propose that retrospective analysis of progress across service levels can illuminate the diverse approaches used to address particular urban and rural sanitation deficits, and may provide insight to national and global actors in their ongoing efforts to address household sanitation. Additionally, we propose that a Sanitation Ladder Score, weighted to ascribe full, partial, and no credit to use of improved, shared and unimproved, and open defecation, respectively, is essential for concise communication of progress. Our analysis required gap-filling of data missing from the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) dataset; our final dataset consists of 190 countries representing 99.8% of global population. 149 countries achieved greater progress on the Sanitation Ladder Score than on the MDG metric. Using the four JMP progress categories, 144 countries fell into the same progress category and 41 achieved a higher category of Ladder Score progress. Countries with large gains in shared sanitation tended to have much greater progress on the Sanitation Ladder Score than on the MDG metric. A more detailed analysis is reported for six countries, with insight from the literature into their approaches. This Sanitation Ladder Score could be modified to incorporate the new “Safely Managed” service level tracked under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and likewise could be modified for other SDG targets for which multiple levels of service/achievement are reported. We encourage others to build upon our analysis; our complete dataset is freely available online (https://melliott.people.ua.edu/data.html).

Overseas immigration liaison officers: ‘Knowledge brokers’ and transnational spaces of mid-level negotiations shaping extraterritorial migration control practices

AbstractA significant yet overlooked aspect in many states’ extraterritorial migration control efforts is their immigration liaison officers (ILOs) posted to foreign jurisdictions, who make decisions and take actions abroad to support their country’s immigration goals. Importantly, this occurs within an interconnected system of nation-states, requiring mid-level officials from multiple states to co-operate. Yet, there is very little analysis on what happens in these foreign jurisdictions where officials from across national and organisational boundaries interact and negotiate the management of migration flows. This article aims to fill this gap by drawing on empirical research on the UK’s overseas immigration liaison network. Analysis is based on original interviews with Home Office officials, Freedom of Information requests, and documentary research. I find that UK ILOs are a main contact point between the country they represent, local authorities in the host state, and Global North counterparts from other states, making them key sites for the transnational exchange of information, ‘intelligence’ and ‘know-how’. In this way, they are like ‘knowledge brokers’, contributing to a ‘global–local diffusion’ of ideas. Despite power hierarchies, this is not a one-way transfer from the Global North to the South. Instead, I find Global South actors are also key subjects in this process. By going beyond policies on paper and formal inter-state agreements, this study offers important insight into a largely hidden yet central part of a state’s extraterritorial migration control: informal spaces of negotiation between mid-level officials from across national and organisational boundaries who negotiate and contest migration control practices.

Cyber technology and the European Union’s gestaltian approach to China

Contemporary European Union (EU) and China relations are marked by a simultaneously beneficial, conflictual and competitive partnership. This is aptly evident in the cyber technology realm. This paper contends that the European Union’s gestaltian approach towards China can be understood with the aid of three theoretical positions: (1) an institutional perspective; (2) as a values-based actor; and, (3) a realpolitik dimension. The arguments advanced in the paper, ultimately imply that the EU’s approach towards China can provide various EU domestic and global actors’ space to exploit contradictions, notably when it comes to cyber technology diplomacy. This has the attendant effect of fostering future fissures in the EU’s overall engagement with China.

Deciphering Turkey—Africa Summits

Abstract Over the last two decades, international summits have gained great importance for regional and global actors in terms of developing relations with African countries. China, India, Japan, the Unites States, European countries and Russia have conducted various summits and business forums to develop political, economic and military relations with Africa. In 2005, Turkey emerged as a new actor when its foreign policy opened up to Africa. It was a strategic partner to the African Union in 2008, has conducted two Turkey–Africa summits—in 2008 in Istanbul, and in 2014 in Malabo—and the third summit was held again in Istanbul in December 2021. This article analyses the Istanbul and Malabo declarations comprehensively to evaluate Turkey’s foreign policy discourse on Africa. Moreover, it examines Turkey’s Africa policy implementations and achievements in the continent through the lens of summits.

South–South Knowledge Production and Hegemony: Searching for Africa in Chinese Theories of IR

Abstract There is a growing community of international relations (IR) scholars who argue for the importance of investigating Global South approaches to IR scholarship, making room for theories and concepts that challenge the discipline's Eurocentricity, and debating the merits and pitfalls of globalizing IR by including perspectives from various Global South locations. In addition to acknowledging this existing critical scholarship that aims at resisting mainstream epistemologies and methodologies of knowing and doing IR, this article's central contribution is to probe the epistemic hegemony and knowledge-production hierarchies that are emerging from within the Global South. The article does not seek to uncover the truth about the representation of Global South actors by Global South IR communities. Instead, it is interested in demonstrating how epistemic hegemony and knowledge-production hierarchies do not exist only in relationships of exclusion and Othering but also in relations of inclusion and Selving. We illustrate our argument with an analysis of the representations of “Africa” in China-based IR intellectual communities. We find that Chinese discourses on solidarity, friendship, community, and shared history lead to a narrative of sameness and Selving whereby Chinese postcolonial experiences are taken to be expandable and applicable to other developing states, making Chinese perspectives seem representative of others, thereby silencing and representing African voices at once.

SECURITY DYNAMIC OF THE STRATEGIC NUCLEAR BALANCE IN SYSTEMS THEORY AND THE CONCEPT OF CENTRES OF GRAVITY

The general concepts and understandings of the international security environment in the 21st century have become more complex owing to a multitude of factors spanning both traditional and novel security domains. In the current era, nuclear security in particular has continued to exist in its paramount role of importance. The following paper explores the defined state of the “strategic nuclear balance” as a state extant within the systemic approach towards international security. Based upon previous research in defining the state through core concepts fundamental to systems theory and supporting concepts such as those of centres of gravity, this paper aims to further expand contemporary understandings and illustrate a point of coalescence. Thereby the given study demonstrates how based upon key postulations in the understanding of the security concept in systems theory and centres of gravity of both physical and non-physical nature within a system, a combined novel model can be extrapolated, which demonstrates the security dynamic in the “strategic nuclear balance” between major global nuclear armed state actors.

Universal health coverage and public-private arrangements within Sri Lanka's mixed health system: Perspectives from women seeking healthcare

Universal health coverage (UHC), a target of the United Nations' third Sustainable Development Goal on health, refers to people having access to essential healthcare services without suffering financial hardship. The World Bank and other leading global health actors champion mixed health systems—in which government and privately-financed market delivery coexist—as a sustainable model for UHC. Yet, little is known about what these public-private arrangements mean for women, a crucial partaker of UHC in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Using a critical feminist approach, this study explores how women negotiate access to public and private healthcare services within Sri Lanka's state-dominant mixed health system. Data were generated through focus group discussions and interviews with women residents of an urban division in Kandy, a city seeing rapid private healthcare expansion in central Sri Lanka. Notwithstanding policies of universality guiding public sector delivery, out-of-pocket payments burden socially and economically disadvantaged women. They use private services to fill gaps in the public system, and consult dual practitioners privately, to pave way for better (public) care. By contrast, wealthier women opt for private outpatient care, but capitalize on the dual practitioners to obtain priority access to oversubscribed services at public hospitals. Most women, regardless of social location, combine public with private, albeit to varying degrees, to save on household expenses. Relying on women's invisible care work, these public-private “hybrid” routes of access within Sri Lanka's poorly regulated mixed health system, reinforce social inequalities and individualize the responsibility for healthcare. The article throws light on the messiness of access within mixed systems and demands closer scrutiny of calls for private sector engagement in the quest for UHC in LMICs.

‘It’s a life-changing point for me’: critical consciousness, collective empowerment and global awareness as activist identity change in ‘popular education’

The Youth Global Awareness Programme (YGAP) is a 2-week residential ‘popular education’ programme for young, diverse, international, labour movement activists, run by the International Federation of Workers Education Associations in Cape Town, South Africa. In this mixed method study (N = 47), we draw on the Social Identity Approach to Education and Learning. We propose that the participatory, peer-to-peer learning during YGAP leads to activist identity change, where critical consciousness, collective empowerment and global awareness develop as group norms. The first longitudinal questionnaire study found significant increases in activist identity and critical consciousness, which predicted increased collective empowerment. In the second focus group study, data were analysed with reflexive thematic analysis and two themes provide compelling evidence of learning during YGAP as identity change processes. Participants’ commonalities and differences enhanced activist identities with global awareness. Simultaneously, new knowledge, passion, hope and connection to a global activist community created collective empowerment.

Peran ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific Sebagai Strategi Kebijakan Luar Negeri Indonesia Di Kawasan Indo-Pasifik

The purposes of this paper is to see the role of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific as Indonesia's foreign policy strategy in context to responding the dynamics that occur in the region. Nowadays, competition between global actors is getting stronger and creates new, more complex tensions. One of them is marked by the increasing impact of the rivalry that occurs between the United States and China in the Indo-Pacific region. Indonesia, with its strategic position, take advantage of ASEAN as a medium to achieve its interests through a soft power approach. This paper uses the concepts of foreign policy in perspective strategy and rivalry interstate with a descriptive qualitative research approach. The results of the study describe the process from the creation and the importance of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific for countries in the region.

Exporting the Will to Compete in Korea’s Global Saemaul Undong

ABSTRACT This article analyses the globalisation of Saemaul Undong, a South Korean rural development programme. While multiple actors promote contradictory versions of global Saemaul, suggesting strategic incoherence, all these initiatives are tied together by a coherent political economic agenda, namely the export of a will to compete in the developing world. By focusing on the interests of Saemaul’s globalisation, this article shows that for converging local and global actors, Saemaul is an instrument to enrol villagers in capitalist development and to enforce extended processes of primitive accumulation. Saemaul aligns with the neo-liberal agendas of development agencies: it fits the imperative of participatory development and its contemporary advocates emphasise its Schumpeterian qualities and its ability to promote social competition in rural communities. Saemaul also seeks to achieve social change by changing minds, while its globalisation also aligns with the World Bank’s recent behavioural agenda of transformation of the mind for capitalist purposes. This transformative endeavour reflects the coinciding materialist interests of global development agencies and the Korean state-chaebol nexus. By promoting the principle of agricultural value chain integration in Saemaul programmes, South Korean governments also use Saemaul to respond to the business interests shaping the country’s Official Development Assistance provision.

Development, Conservation, Empowerment: The Trilemma of Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia.

Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) is a form of resource governance that has been widely popularized across southern Africa. CBNRM consists of three main goals or pillars which include economic development, environmental conservation, and community empowerment. It is intended to devolve control of certain natural resources from national government to local communities. The idea being that local residents will manage resources more sustainably and break neopatrimonial webs that have led to mismanagement and protracted underdevelopment. However, with communities there are important politics that often go understudied and there are instances where the same type of issues that going local was intended to circumvent, are re-engendered at the local level. Beyond this, CBNRM cannot only be understood as a form of domestic resource governance that happens in a vacuum and instead there are important politics and power imbalances between local, national, and global actors, that sees the will of some win out over others. As a result of these power asymmetries, I argue that the three goals of CBNRM form a trilemma in which the realization of one goal undermines success in achieving one or both of the others. As a result, CBNRM programs have failed to achieve the success proponents envision. Thus, it becomes integral to understand and account for the politics involved, rather than to analyze CBNRM as an apolitical policy fix for domestic conservation as much of the literature presents it as.

Current Progress of Jatropha Curcas Commoditisation as Biodiesel Feedstock: A Comprehensive Review

This article looks at the national and global actors, social networks, and narratives that have influencedJatropha’sworldwide acceptability as a biofuel crop.Jatropha Curcasis a genus of around 175 succulent shrubs and trees in theEuphorbiaceaefamily (some of which are deciduous, such asJatropha CurcasL.). It’s a drought-tolerant perennial that thrives in poor or marginal soil and produces a large amount of oil per hectare. It is easy to grow, has a fast growth rate, and can generate seeds for up to 50 years.Jatropha Curcashas been developed as a unique and promising tropical plant for augmenting renewable energy sources due to its various benefits. It is deserving of being recognised as the only competitor in terms of concrete and intangible environmental advantages.Jatropha Curcasis a low-cost biodiesel feedstock with good fuel properties and more oil than other species. It is a non-edible oilseed feedstock. Thus it will have no impact on food prices or the food vs fuel debate.Jatropha Curcasemits fewer pollutants than diesel and may be used in diesel engines with equivalent performance.Jatropha Curcasalso makes a substantial contribution to the betterment of rural life. The plant may also provide up to 40% oil yield per seed based on weight. This study looks at the features characteristics ofJatropha Curcasas biodiesel feedstock and performance, and emissions of internal combustion engine that operates on this biodiesel fuel.

Heritage Foodways as Matrix for Cultural Resurgence: Evidence from Rural Peru (Russian Translation)

This article explores critical directions in the study of cultural heritage and, in particular, food heritage research. Its goal is to deliver insight into local perspectives produced outside mainstream heritage organizations. Strategies implemented jointly by peasant farmers of rural Peru and non-governmental organizations committed to promoting cultural resurgence show how food discloses the symbiotic relation between nature and culture in these indigenous worlds, and allows for claims grounded in social, political, and economic imaginaries. The initiatives described in this article develop within transnational networks of partners and interlocutors but outside of universalist pretensions. They constitute food heritage that differs from that of global cultural actors such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the United Nations by addressing only the needs of local communities and not complying with mechanisms that bring prestige and revenues to states and powerful cultural entrepreneurs. Globally nurtured, but locally implemented, these locally based initiatives seek out and take advantage of opportunities in strategic, proactive fashions.

He Shanghai Cooperation Organization and its role in the contemporary system of international relations (On the 20th anniversary of the SCO)

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This is a good opportunity to assess its performance over the past two decades, to draw some conclusions, and to discuss possible future developments of the SCO. The author examines milestones in the formation of the SCO, its institutional structure, as well as its key activities which encompass four focal areas: politics, security, economy, and humanitarian cooperation. The paper focuses on the decisions of the 21st SCO Summit in Dushanbe, especially those aimed at strengthening cooperation in combating the eff ects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and addressing security challenges, arising from the latest developments in Afghanistan. The latter particularly imply an increasing threat of terrorism, extremism, and drug traffi cking from Afghanistan to neighboring countries in Central Asia. The author emphasizes the crucial role of the SCO Regional Antiterrorist Structure (RATS) in countering these threats. Finally, the paper addresses both the circumstances and possible implications of Iran’s ascension to a full SCO member, which was approved during the summit in Dushanbe. The author concludes that over the past two decades the SCO has successfully transitioned from an important, yet regional in scope and framework, organization to an infl uential global actor, which plays a major role in the maintenance of peace and security in Central Asia and could serve as a model for the establishment of a new non-confrontational approach to the interstate relations.

5 - Analysing South Africa’s Soft Power in Africa through the Knowledge Diplomacy of Higher Education

In just 20 years of democracy, South Africa has benefitted immensely from the products of its high culture as reflected by its internationally recognized universities that have the potential to promote the country’s national interests, particularly at the continental level. The role that South Africa’s higher education plays as a sophisticated tool of influence in Africa’s development is becoming increasingly critical to the transformation of the continent, thus strengthening its status as an important regional and global actor. Using the notion of soft power, this article provides an analysis of the significance of Pretoria’s higher education for the country’s international reputation and how its Higher Education Institutions could position themselves internationally for economic and geopolitical benefits. While the article shows that the increasing preference for higher education in South Africa – especially by African academics and students – is a valuable soft power platform for Pretoria to assert itself as an acceptable regional power in Africa, it argues that this has shortcomings at the continental level.