Influence Of Non-state Actors Research Articles

The Nature and Scope of Diplomatic History

Diplomatic history is a subfield of history that focuses on the interactions and relationships between states and their representatives. It is concerned with the nature of diplomacy and the role it plays in shaping international relations. Diplomatic history also encompasses a wide range of areas including the study of treaties, alliances, war and peace, and the role of diplomacy in shaping the modern world. More so, the discipline looks at the influence of non-state actors, such as individuals, corporations, and NGOs, on the course of diplomatic history. In addition, the scope of diplomatic history is vast and covers a range of historical periods and regions. The field also studies the impact of culture, emotions, and identity on diplomatic interactions. However, the discipline is faced by some challenges and limitations. Some historians argue that diplomatic history is too focused on state actors and official sources, and that it fails to account for the experiences of ordinary people. This paper examines the nature and scope of diplomatic history. It explains the meaning of history, diplomacy and how the concept of diplomatic history evolved and the role of diplomacy in history. It also highlighted the impact of diplomacy on world events. The relationship between diplomatic history and other disciplines was also examined. The paper uses a historical research approach in its analysis.

Beyond Usual Suspects? Inclusion and Influence of Non-State Actors in Online Public Consultations in Croatia

Despite the increasing use of various e-democracy tools in shaping new policies, there is still a general lack of empirical studies on the influence of non-state actors in online public consultations. This article addresses this gap in the academic literature by focusing on the case of Croatia, which may have relevant broader practical and theoretical implications due to the legally binding rules of institutional responsiveness to individual policy inputs received during e-consultations and the growing interest of citizens and various interest groups to get engaged in this form of policy dialogue. Drawing on the novel data set that includes the responses of 39 government bodies to 51,250 policy inputs of interest groups and individual citizens to online consultations during the first three years since the launch of the government consultation platform, the paper seeks to analyse the influence of different types of non-state actors on the outcomes of government-led online public consultations. Contrary to general expectations about the predominance of more resourceful interest groups, it is argued that individual citizens exert a noticeable influence on the results of online policy consultations of Croatian government bodies. It is also claimed that the specific design and patterns of online public consultations, especially improved responsiveness of government bodies, contribute to the pluralisation of interests, equalizing political representation, and empowering individual citizens and other new actors, beyond traditional interest groups and “usual suspects” in national decision-making processes.

Exploring the influence of agricultural actors on water quality policy: the role of discourse and framing

ABSTRACT Policy processes traditionally dominated by government increasingly are open to participation by diverse non-governmental actors. This can result in more inclusive policy making, but undue influence that undermines democratic processes is also possible. We use insights from critical discourse analysis and framing theory to assess the discursive influence of non-state actors in the context of a government-led policy process to address eutrophication problems in the Lake Erie basin, shared by Canada and the United States. We analyze the actions of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation within the policy process to develop Domestic Action Plans to deal with nutrient runoffs. This research provides novel insights into how policy influence may occur in a process with multiplicity of stakeholders. In the context of efforts towards inclusive resource governance, this approach helps us reveal hurdles to the achievement of goals for sustainable resource use.

An Empirical Evaluation of the Impact of Collaboration on the Pace and Scale of National Forest Management in Idaho

Abstract It has been posited that US national forest administration is undergoing a governance transition characterized by an increase in the involvement and influence of non-state actors. One example of this new form of national forest governance is the use of multi-stakeholder collaborative efforts for planning and implementing projects. This has raised normative and positive questions about the value and effectiveness of such efforts and how they compare with more traditional public involvement and planning processes. This study attempts to address the latter questions by analyzing project-level planning and implementation data while comparing collaborative and traditional projects on a suite of metrics related to pace, scale, complexity, and legal outcomes. We used administrative data from the USDA Forest Service to conduct a quantitative analysis of projects over a 14-year period. We found that collaboratively developed projects were larger and more complex than traditional projects and were associated with greater planning efficiency. This analysis responds to the need to systematically assess the impact of collaborative governance and contributes to existing theories of governance, organizational learning, and policy implementation.

La Agenda 2030 como instrumento constitutivo de una ciudadanía global desde el enfoque de derechos humanos

Desde finales de la última década del siglo XX el sistema internacional ha atravesado procesos de transformación de manera más intensa y visible que en otros periodos como consecuencia de la globalización. Cambian las relaciones de poder político y económico entre los Estados, pero aún más relevante resulta la emergencia e influencia de los actores no estatales sobre las dinámicas y estructuras internacionales, trascendiendo el paradigma estatocéntrico tradicional. Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el concepto de “ciudadanía global” como un proceso de empoderamiento de una sociedad civil cada vez más consciente de los problemas que afectan a su vida en el ámbito local y global, su intrínseca vinculación con el régimen de los derechos humanos y el papel que la Agenda 2030 representa para avanzar en su constitución e influir en el logro del desarrollo sostenible.

Retrospective of using the US universities and the Foreign Policy Association as elements of public diplomacy in the United States

The article covers the period of implemetation of the leading US universities and the Foreign Policy Association as elements of US public diplomacy wchich their impact in economic, political and cultural influence all over the world. The author methodically and consistently cites analytical, historical facts proving an indirect and direct impact on the foreign policy of countries. The relevance of the article is due to the high significance and influence of non-state actors on world politics nowdays. The author points out that the political course of the leadership of the United States from the second half of the 20th century was focused on more active inclusion of the country in international politics and the rejection of isolationism, which was primarily reflected in the departure from the postulates of the Monroe Doctrine and the entry of the United States into the First World War. This, in turn, had a great influence on the development of public diplomacy in the United States as a tool to promote the interests of the country, the creation of the necessary information support for foreign policy actions of the state, as well as a favorable image of the United States in other countries. Thus it required the active involvement of the leading US universities in US public diplomacy, as well as the creation of new non-state institutions.

Soft power individuals in Nigeria and South Africa: an appraisal of Olusegun Obasanjo’s and Thabo Mbeki’s power of attraction

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing influence of non-state actors in international affairs, soft power analysis in Africa and globally remains state-centric. By extension, assessment of individuals’ soft power is undeveloped. This article examines the extent to which, if at all, Olusegun Obasanjo and Thabo Mbeki wielded soft power in the international arena both during and after their presidencies. It examines their idiosyncratic traits and varied ideas and policies, particularly with regard to pan-Africanism and African Renaissance that generate or undercut soft power. The article concludes that Obasanjo and Mbeki have successfully used their soft power and international clout to make significant contributions in Africa and beyond.

From Human Rights Aspirations to Enforceable Obligations by Non-State Actors in the Digital Age: The Example of Internet Governance and ICANN

As the global policy-making capacity and influence of non-state actors in the digital age is rapidly increasing, the protection of fundamental human rights by private actors becomes one of the most pressing issues in Global Governance. This article combines business and human rights and digital constitutionalism discourses and uses the changing institutional context of Internet Governance and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (‘ICANN’) as an example to argue that economic incentives act against the voluntary protection of human rights by informal actors and regulatory structures in the digital era. It further contends that the global policy-making role and increasing regulatory power of informal actors such as ICANN necessitates reframing of their legal duties by subjecting them to directly binding human rights obligations in international law. The article argues that such reframing is particularly important in the information age for three reasons. Firstly, it is needed to rectify an imbalance between hard legal commercial obligations and human rights soft law. This imbalance is well reflected in ICANNs policies. Secondly, binding obligations would ensure that individuals whose human rights have been affected can access an effective remedy. This is not envisaged under the new ICANN Bylaw on human rights precisely because of the fuzziness around the nature of ICANN’s obligations to respect internationally recognized human rights in its policies. Finally, the article suggests that because private actors such as ICANN are themselves engaging in the balancing exercise around such rights, an explicit recognition of their human rights obligations is crucial for the future development of access to justice in the digital age.

Non-state Actors, Terrorism and the New Global Reality

The reality that terrorists are increasingly enjoying a force-multiplier effect in both national and international realms is the preoccupation of this paper. The traditional thinking about international relations premised on the state as the primary actor in international politics is being greatly challenged as opposition to the supremacy of the state in international system by violent non state actors have become more rampant. Global events demonstrate how the influence of non-state actors and individuals is growing in world politics, assisted by an environment in which the flow of both information and disinformation enables the adoption of narratives that are not particularly based on sound facts and objective knowledge. The implication is that those involved in national and international security in the 21st century will need to formulate and re-strategize more effective, less military propelled ways and means that address the individual’s capacity to distinguish between rational and irrational in order to positively influence the forces that trigger the rise of such extremism in the first place. Until that is achieved, the threats from violent non state actors will continue to challenge some states as the terrorist groups align with others to create a convoluted and perplexing set of geopolitical and organizational networks that will prove difficult to unravel

Growing Role of Non-State Actors in Indian Pre-Tertiary Education

Our aim in this paper is to provide a global systems-view of the changes in the Indian pre-tertiary education sector over the past two decades, especially the interplay between a medley of global and domestic non-state entrants and a State tasked with the mission of universalising school education. Besides the obvious interface in the regulatory arena and in explicit collaboration arrangements, the influence of non-state actors extends to policy making and the shaping of the education ecosystem, much of this opaque and inscrutable to the general public. Not merely the means of providing education, but the very nature and purpose and philosophy of education, have come under negotiation, sometimes through open debate but often through inscrutable systems of influence. The digital era of the 21st century has added a further layer of complexity to a globalized world, even as countries like India are having to contend with the growing diversity in their learner population as they seek to expand the reach of literacy and education within their borders. We examine the alternatives to state provision that prevail in the Indian schools sector, and their relative effectiveness in achieving the twin goals of educational access and quality. We then go further beneath the surface and examine the language of policy that defines these attributes, to detect the common threads with global educational reform agendas and development practices, but also the divergences and idiosyncrasies native to our ecosystem.

NEODESARROLLISMO Y SEGURIDAD EN AMÉRICA LATINA: EL CASO DE BOLIVIA

El presente artículo pretende explorar el modelo de desarrollo que Bolivia ha intentando de implementar desde los primeros días de la presidencia de Evo Morales. Primero, ubicaremos el modelo neo- desarrollista boliviano en su coyuntura sociohistórica, enumerando aquellos factores estructurales e ideológicos que están generando un desplazamiento de paradigma en torno al desarrollo en la región. Segundo, consideraremos cómo dicho modelo está plasmado en el Plan Nacional de Desarrollo (PND), la piedra angular del gobierno de Morales. El PND plantea el problema de la seguridad nacional en términos de la seguridad humana y plantea el problema de la seguridad regional en términos de apoyo a proyectos de integración que pretenden ir más allá del fundamentalismo de mercado y de la real- politik. Tercero, destacaremos los desafíos domésticos y regionales que impiden la implementación del PND. Desde este punto de vista, en términos domésticos, se plantea el problema de una “guerra social de redes” entre el gobierno del MAS y los actores no estatales. Y en términos regionales, se plantean los problemas de los límites de la realidad económica de Bolivia y la instrumentalización del neo- desarrollismo por la Revolución Bolivariana.

Governing Civil Society in Nigeria and Zimbabwe: A Question of Policy Process and Non-State Actors’ Involvement

AbstractSovereign nations have the right to regulate the activities and operations of civil society organizations (CSOs) within their jurisdiction. The nature of official policy controls bears important implications for the breath and health of associational life, to the degree that they are relaxed, restrictive, or intrusive. Since nations in Africa have often been seen to subvert the growth and impact of CSOs, this article traces the policy controls that govern CSOs in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Within the context of policy change, the article employs the Advocacy Coalition Framework in an effort to trace the policy process in these two countries. It particularly focuses on CSOs-focused policies and on clarifying the role and influence of non-state actors. Although political elites continue to dominate the policy process, non-state actors increasingly permeate the process through various formal and informal strategies, including the use of venues and influencing public opinion. Overall, CSOs-focused policies reflect distorted beliefs originating from the West’s preoccupations with a homogeneous, governance-focused African civil society.

Experiments in global democracy: The cases of UNITAID and the FAO Committee on World Food Security

AbstractA growing literature explores how global governance mechanisms can be made more effective and democratic to tackle trans-boundary development challenges like global epidemics, global poverty or climate change. The international system today is characterized by an increasing influence of non-state actors gradually undermining the prominent role of the state. Considering this new reality, the focus of analysis has increasingly shifted towards examining the fundamental role of non-state actors, in particular from civil society, in building democratic global governance mechanisms. The literature still says little about joint governance efforts of both state and non-state actors to promote democracy on the global level. This article examines two global governance mechanisms, UNITAID and the FAO Committee on World Food Security, which were created by the joint action of state and non-state actors to tackle trans-boundary development challenges. Departing from the ideal type of democratic polycentrism this article argues that both mechanisms can be seen as encouraging experiments in global democracy. This analysis attempts to show that democratic polycentrism may prove to be a useful theoretical blueprint for pursuing more democratic global governance mechanisms and that more democracy on the global level depends on the joint activities of democratic states and civil society actors.

Prolonged international environmental negotiations: the roles and strategies of non-state actors in the EU

For scholars of international environmental agreements, the role of non-state actors has been a central focus. There is a considerable literature on the influence of environmental NGOs and business groups on state behaviour and in turn international environmental outcomes. However, much less empirical work has been done to examine the influence of these actors and the strategies they can use in prolonged international environmental negotiations that last for years or decades. This article takes up this task. Drawing on a rich empirical data set on the role of European-based actors in the international climate change negotiations, it considers the influence of non-state actors in prolonged negotiations and identifies four strategies that these actors can use to influence state actors and non-state actors alike.

User-oriented national forest monitoring planning: a contribution to more policy relevant forest information provision

SUMMARY Political and socioeconomic settings for policy decision-making about forests are increasingly complex and characterised by growing user demands, the strong influence of non-state actors and an expanding internationalisation of forest policy issues. In this context, efforts in information provision must produce data that are not only technically reliable and cost-efficient but also relevant to and accessible by stakeholders. Based on the experiences gained in national forest inventory projects as well as national forest programmes and forest policy processes in several countries, this paper proposes a set of principles and their application in key action areas of planning to help guide the process of designing national forest monitoring and inventory projects or programmes from the perspective of users of information in forest-related policy processes.

Transnational Actors and Great Powers during Order Transition

This article rests on the assumption of the “complexity, messiness, power relations, and contested character of the contemporary dualistic system,” which comprises great powers and “superimposed, functionally differentiated global subsystems of world society” ([Cohen 2012][1]:5). The article argues that this framework is being shaped by the current transition of global order. In turn, this raises the question how the state-led negotiation of today's order transition can be understood against the backdrop of a post-Westphalian environment. The article challenges the widespread argument pertaining to the “autonomy of transnational actors” by suggesting that the influence of nonstate actors is dependent on a particular institutional context in which the key political questions framing a social order are settled. Whereas research on international institutions and their design simply assumes that this is the case, here it is argued that unless these framing patterns are agreed upon by major powers, the respective order and its elements, that is, institutions and regimes, remain contested or deadlocked. When this happens, the political impact of non-state actors is largely neutralized or strongly weakened and their effective autonomy from great powers is minimized. [1]: #ref-16

Redefining Sovereignty for the 21st Century

In confronting the transformative nature of international institutions and global norms, this paper will address implications for sovereignty in the 21st century. Driven by transformative global human rights and humanitarian norms, multipolar alignment of power, authority and legitimacy, and the increasing influence of non-state actors, sovereignty has taken on characteristics previously unimagined, and is likely to align with continuing developments in human rights and democratic governance.Using rights-based analysis, emerging notions of sovereignty will be explored with particular reference to the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm. The effects of interdependency on sovereignty will be examined, in addition to the changing nature of the relationship between state and non-state actors. Furthermore, the relationship between the Global North and South will be explored to demonstrate hierarchies of power and claims to legitimacy in the inter-state system. As modern conflicts take on increasingly irregular, asymmetric, and intra-state characteristics, claims to absolute authority by states have begun to be formally subordinated by international human rights and humanitarian norms. Conceived as a liberal compromise between absolute mutual non-interference and the international society’s obligation to protect civilians from mass atrocities, the role of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm will be assessed as a major development in the emergence of post-national sovereignty.

Multi-Forum Non-State Actors: Navigating the Regime Complexes for Forestry and Genetic Resources

This research brings together studies of non-state actors (NSAs) in environmental negotiations, transnational networks, and institutional fragmentation, to shed light on the influence of NSAs on policy-making in regime complexes. It presents a new analytical framework with a series of deductive assumptions about the influence of “multi-forum” NSAs, as compared with “single forum” NSAs. Multi-forum NSAs cover several elements of a regime complex, and are thereby able to follow and potentially influence fragmented institutional processes. Focusing on two cases of fragmented environmental governance—forestry and access to genetic resources—the analysis provides a quantitative (statistics, network analysis) and qualitative (interviews) testing ground for the proposed framework. Because of their considerable material, organizational and ideational resources, and long-term engagement, multi-forum NSAs have greater access to the negotiations and may become central players. The strategies such NSAs adopt can further the integration of regime complexes when they undertake forum linking, or push towards further fragmentation when they undertake forum shopping or forum shifting.

Global Civil Society and Democratization of World Politics: A Bona Fide Relationship or Illusory Liaison?

For over a decade, scholars have been studying and debating the role and influence of non-state actors in democratizing global politics. The sheer volume of studies calls for assessing the current state of this area of research. It also invites systematic analysis of differences in the collected evidence on outcomes of the democratizing efforts of global civil society associations. In this review, I (1) expound the concept of global civil society and point to definitional dilemmas surrounding this term; (2) propose a new analytical framework for examining an association between global civil society and democratization; (3) apply the proposed framework for assessing the findings of empirical studies; (4) discuss the nature of differences and the sources of discord in the analysts’ conclusions; and (5) make recommendations for advancing our knowledge in this important area of research. A principal theme that runs throughout this essay is that the field of global civil society and democratization has ample avenues for further conceptual, theoretical, and empirical work. Our ability to speak credibly of global civil society as a viable democratizing force would be improved with the development of empirical theory, conceptual elaboration, and more rigorous methodologies of research.

Inequality and the global climate regime: breaking the north-south impasse

This article explores the hypothesis that global inequality may be a central impediment to interstate cooperation on climate change policy. Conventional wisdom suggests that outcomes in international environmental politics are primarily attributable to material self-interest, bargaining power, coercion, domestic environmental values, exogenous shocks and crises, the existence of salient policy solutions, the strength of political leadership and the influence of nonstate actors. Yet none of these approaches offers a completely satisfactory explanation for the long-standing north-south divide on climate change. Drawing on social inequality literature and international relations theory, we argue that inequality dampens cooperative efforts by reinforcing ‘structuralist’ world-views and causal beliefs, polarizing policy preferences, promoting particularistic notions of fairness, generating divergent and unstable expectations about future behaviour, eroding conditions of mutual trust and creating incentives for zero-sum and negative-sum behaviour. In effect, inequality undermines the establishment of mutually acceptable ‘rules of the game’ which could mitigate these obstacles.