Transnational Dimensions Research Articles

Transnational corporate counterinsurgency in the Colombian conflict and its legacies today

ABSTRACT This study challenges common-sense thinking on internal violent conflicts in two ways: that they are merely domestic, with limited influence from external actors; and that doing business in conflict-ridden places is detrimental to profits. Drawing on empirical research and theoretical lenses from critical security studies and the political ecology of counterinsurgency, the paper explores the transnational dimensions of Colombia’s violent conflict in relation to the extractive sector. Conceptualising two overall generations of counterinsurgency, the article shows how, during the conflict, several transnational corporations, especially those in the extractive and agro-industrial sector, not only established themselves in Colombia and expanded, they also developed their corporate security schemes. Given that energy projects were strategic targets in the guerrilla war, the protection of corporate infrastructure by the state was justified. The paper argues that the internal conflict not only facilitated corporate extractivism, it also provided innovative ways of ensuring corporate security. This ‘social warfare’ approach includes strategic efforts to win hearts and minds, which continue to be pursued today through practices known as ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR). The paper relates this to the current challenges to hold economic actors accountable in transitional justice.

Heritage conservation and civilisational competition in the South Caucasus: the Blue Mosque of Yerevan and the Govhar Agha Mosque in Shusha

ABSTRACT This paper explores the role of cultural heritage in shaping competing civilisational identities amid the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. As its case studies, it focuses on the relatively recent restorations of two significant mosques, the Blue Mosque in Yerevan (capital of Armenia) and the Govhar Agha Mosque in Shusha (capital of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan), respectively. Referring to primary references in Persian, Azerbaijani, Turkish, Armenian, and Russian, the paper elaborates historical, cultural, and political narratives surrounding these edifices and their restorations. This situates heritage conservation within the South Caucasus’s intricate historical and geopolitical landscape. Within this context, the function of heritage extends beyond national cultural symbolism. Responding to a transnational dimension, heritage functions as an instrument in geopolitical manoeuvring by both Armenia and Azerbaijan and in relation to rising and influential regional powers, Iran, and Turkey. Here the distinct function of heritage is shaping civilisational identities: it projects scales beyond the nation-state and is integral to various other forms of bilateral and multilateral agreements, including military and economic. As such, disputes over these two heritage sites and others like them, echo broader geopolitical and civilisational tensions at regional scales. Thus, heritage is at once the battleground for national-territorial and civilisational claims.

Digital technologies and the protest paradigm: The discursive construction of the #WomanLifeFreedom protests in Time and Wired magazine

In today’s hybrid media landscape, scholars have questioned the “protest paradigm” as the leading interpretation of news coverage of protest action. While the press tends to cover protests in rather antagonistic terms, it is simultaneously highly celebratory of the digital, rehearsing long standing techno-utopian and techno-deterministic discourses. This study zooms in on the Iranian #WomanLifeFreedom movement, investigating how the political power of digital technologies is articulated in Time and Wired magazine. The findings highlight an overarching discourse of technology as a double-edged sword intersecting with discourses of tactical creativity, horizontalism, and digital “witnessing”; as well as two marginal but interlinked discourses: technology as last resort and human right. Findings show that while the protest paradigm persists in the contemporary coverage of the #WomanLifeFreedom movement, legitimizing and delegitimizing frames coexist to produce a more nuanced view of the movement, highlighting activist goals and grievances alongside elements of conflict and spectacle. Considering the transnational dimension of the protests, and the U.S. – Iran political context, the paper concludes that both the geography of protest and the integration of digital technologies in activism shape the coverage of contemporary movements.

Unlocking the Potential of the Decolonial Approach in Migration Studies

ABSTRACTBased on a bibliometric analysis of Scopus‐indexed articles on decolonial research on migration from Social Science disciplines this article outlines the main topics covered by the sampled literature, namely: (1) the academic migration as framed by the internationalization discourse in higher education; (2) migrants' social movements and their transnational dimension; (3) gender and age in decolonial studies of migration; (4) the ways in which intersectionality shapes migrants' experiences through their class, race, gender and sexual orientation; and (5) critique of humanitarian discourse regarding refugees and asylum seekers. The article shows that type of literature first emerged in 2010 and significantly increased after 2020. Likewise, the geographic distribution of the knowledge production in this field highlights the uneven contributions by various countries and regions. Moreover, this picture is further complicated by the biographies of authors who, in many instances, are academic migrants coming from different national backgrounds in the Global South to work in higher education institutions in the Global North. The article ends with suggestions for further developments of the decolonial approach in the study of migration.

Changing Warscapes, Changing Islamists? Religion, Organization, Strategic Context and New Approaches to Armed Islamist Insurgencies

This framing essay to the Special Issue on Islamists in Warscapes argues for the value of engaging with the concept of warscapes, developed primarily by anthropologists of violence in Africa, for theorizing about armed Islamist groups in protracted conflict situations. The warscapes concept better captures the nature of many of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and beyond by focusing on its protracted but intermittent nature, temporal and spatial variability, international and transnational dimensions, and production of wartime orders. Within this framework, this article and Special Issue focus on armed Islamist groups, asking whether and why they perform differently than non-Islamist groups and how they evolve through embeddedness in warscapes. The article reviews literature on protracted conflict and warscapes, armed Islamist groups and jihadists, and the study of religion in conflict. It concludes by arguing that the warscapes literature can significantly add to our understanding of armed Islamist groups, and that focusing on armed Islamist groups can enrich the study of warscapes.

Qualitative Comparative Policy Studies: An Introduction from the Special Section Editors

This inaugural article delineates the vision and scope of the new section “Qualitative Comparative Policy Studies” of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. The co-editors present the five key features of the section: the comparative, the transnational, the relational, the global, and the self-reflective. Concretely, they invite contributions on qualitative empirical research that (i) is comparative in its methods and interpretive framework, (ii) draws on the transnational dimension, (iii) considers the relational dimension of network governance, (iv) recognizes an unequal global setting, and (v) is self-reflective and interrogates international comparison as a governance tool. By definition, qualitative comparison is contextual comparison that differentiates between place and space and the temporalities of comparative policy analysis (period, timing, tempo, sequence, lifespan, and age).

#IamNotAVirus – Transnational activism of chinese diaspora on social media during Covid-19

This article aims to analyze the transnational activism of the Chinese diaspora in social media platforms that aimed to confront racist and xenophobic narratives on the expression “Chinese virus”, whose dissemination promoted the association between Coronavirus and the Chinese population in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. We focus on the process of creation and production of two campaigns in Brazil and in Spain, #EuNãoSouUmVirus and #YoNoSoyUnVírus, respectively, shared on YouTube and X (former Twitter). Based on a qualitative approach, we combine ethnographic observations (posts and its contexts analysis) and in-depth interviews with three activists involved in these campaigns. The analysis is developed around two dimensions of transnationalism in digital networks of the Chinese diaspora that marked the campaign production process in the two national contexts (1) the emergence of racist and xenophobic narratives around the “Chinese virus” as an impulse towards transnational activism of the Chinese diaspora on digital networks (2) the activism of the #YoNoSoyUnVírus campaign as an opportunity for political engagement and confronting conflict in the context of Chinese culture.

“¡Eso no nos representa!” Historia, contexto(s) y representación en el Monumento Nacional a la Memoria de las Víctimas del Holocausto Judío de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Objective/Context: In the field of Holocaust studies, the Latin American experience has occupied a liminal space. Even when the global character assumed by its forms of remembrance is widely accepted, little attention has been paid to the national cases of this region. This paper deals with a specific national case through the construction record of the National Monument to the Victims of the Jewish Holocaust, located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The present research reveals the legal and administrative process that accompanied its gestation, the recognition of the actors that intervened throughout the period, and, finally, the character and debates that the architecture of the pantheon provoked. This cycle, which lasted a little more than two decades, allows us to qualify the meaning of the global character of Holocaust memory by considering how this experience was redefined in a national context. Methodology: For this research, qualitative techniques are used in the analysis of the legislative and patrimonial records, journalistic sources, interviews with involved actors, and a documentary film called “Monument,” which aims to give an account of the history of its construction and the representational matrix of that memorial. Originality: Although there have been, in recent years, some works that addressed the memory of the Holocaust in Argentina, they focused on various cultural media: literature, film, and testimonial narratives. This paper addresses an object whose materiality is different—monumental—and which was conceived as a public policy of commemorative character. The analysis of the construction of this memorial pantheon allows recognition of how the transnational dimensions of Holocaust remembrance intersected with aspects of the Argentine political process of the last twenty years. Conclusions: The analysis of the construction process and the materiality assumed by its architecture demonstrate, first, how the global dimensions of Holocaust remembrance interact with local contexts and, second, the tensions raised between the actors and organizations that promote its memory and the victims of Nazi persecution in Argentina.

Protectors or Enforcers?

This essay examines the complex relationship between contemporary law enforcement practices and Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities in Canada, focusing on hyper-masculine subcultures and militarized tactics. Using case studies, such as the death of Ejaz Chaudry and the criminalization of Wet'suwet'en land defenders, this paper analyzes the historical and colonial roots shaping policing practices. The study finds persistent over-policing and discriminatory practices on marginalized communities, emphasizing the urgent need for reform. Exploring the interplay of hyper-masculinity, militarization, and colonial biases, the essay discusses how symbols like the thin blue line contribute to an 'us versus them' mentality, reinforcing militaristic culture. The transnational dimensions of police militarization, influenced by historical and contemporary ties to settler-colonial practices, reveal how shared colonial legacies contribute to the perpetuation of militaristic approaches in law enforcement. Cases like Chaudry and Wet'suwet'en land defenders highlight the devastating consequences of militarized responses, urging comprehensive reforms. This essay acknowledges that while guardian approaches are more favorable in lieu of the outdated warrior mindset, the former community-oriented models still possess limitations. Despite this recognition, the essay contributes to the discourse on redefining policing practices, rebuilding community relations, and fostering a more just, equitable, and community-focused future in law enforcement.

THE EMERGING THREAT OF CHINESE ORGANIZED CRIME IN ITALY AND EUROPE

The mafias, opening up from their territories of origin, have opened up to profound global transformations, also rethinking their own hierarchies of values, their own purposes and their own rules. In particular, in this paper the author deals with the Chinese mafia and its presence on Italian and European territory. In a transnational dimension, the Chinese underworld operates, with the native and foreign criminal cliques present in the territories, in carrying out illicit business and does this with a "mafia-style" methodology.Triad is the name given in the West to a secret society, founded in China in the 17th century and which has today become a dangerous mafia criminal organisation. It has its bases in Hong Kong and the island of Taiwan, but today it is increasingly widespread not only in the United States of America, but also in Italy and Europe.

Dimensions of Transnational Feminism: Autonomous Organizing, Multilateralism and Agenda-Setting in Global Civil Society

The importance and impact of feminist mobilization across borders is well documented, but the impact of autonomy as an aspect of such organizing has not been explored in the transnational context. We argue that to understand the impact of transnational feminist mobilization, at least two distinct types of feminist mobilization require further conceptual development and empirical exploration in the transnational context, namely, autonomous as contrasted with multilateral mobilization. We offer a conceptual framework for distinguishing and studying these two forms. Further, using a mixed-methods study design, we empirically distinguish domestic and transnational dimensions of feminist activism and illuminate the impact of both multilateral feminist organizing and autonomous feminist organizing in the transnational space. Our analysis reveals that domestic and transnational organizing are distinct but related phenomena. We also find that in online organizing spaces, autonomous feminist campaigns amplify the messaging of geographically dispersed grassroots and individual activists more than multilateral ones. It further suggests that autonomous movements may offer more potential for representing marginalized groups of women, though this potential may not always be realized. The paper offers new concepts and empirical insights for the study of transnational feminism, thereby enabling a new research agenda. Further, this research contributes to the study of the ways that Transnational Social Movements can enrich global civil society and deepen global democracy.

Hashtag War in Gaza: An Analysis of the Role of Indonesian Citizens in #JulidFisabilillah from the Transnational Conflict Dimension

Abstract: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict not only has an impact on land but also extends to cyberspace. This research investigates the digital landscape of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, specifically focusing on online activism surrounding the Gaza conflict. This research investigates the hashtag #JulidFisabilillah, a leading online movement originating from Indonesian citizens. Through comprehensive analysis, this research aims to uncover the motivations, narratives, and impacts of #JulidFisabilillah in the broader context of the Israeli-Palestinian War. By examining digital discourse, social media trends, and the role of Indonesian society in shaping online narratives, this research provides insight into the transnational dimensions of the conflict and the influence of digital activism on public opinion. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the role played by Indonesian netizens on online platforms in mobilizing global support and shaping perceptions during geopolitical conflicts.

Cybercriminal Networks and Operational Dynamics of Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scammers: Insights from the “Black Axe” Confraternity

ABSTRACT I explored the relationship between the “Black Axe” Confraternity and cybercrime, with a particular emphasis on the structural dynamics of the Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes. I investigated whether a conventional hierarchical system governs the membership and remuneration for BEC roles as perpetrators by interviewing an accused “leader” of the “Black Axe” affiliated cybercriminal incarcerated in a prominent Western nation. I supplemented the analysis of interview data with insights from tapped phone records monitored by a law enforcement entity. I merged Actor-network theory and Social Network theory as analytical frameworks and thematically analyzed data to produce six overarching themes: (1) The fluidity of Structure and Adaptive Roles in BEC, (2) Challenges in Visualizing Criminal Networks, (3) Globalization and Transnational Dimensions, (4) Social and Cultural Influences, (5) Internal Cybersecurity Threats and Money Laundering, and (6) Remuneration and Influences of Cryptocurrency, casting a brighter light on the topic. Unlike traditional organized crime, BEC scammers have adopted a nonhierarchical model that is flexible and fluid. I found no evidence of a rigid hierarchy dictating positions and remuneration for BEC roles. Instead, I observed that cybercriminals involved in BEC activities functioned horizontally, promoting fluidity, maneuverability, collaboration, and specialization across various facets of their illicit pursuits. I also highlighted the cross-border links BEC offenders have with other criminal actors facilitated by Black Axe organizational machinery. My research adds value to the existing body of knowledge, utilizing a unique dataset comprising direct testimonies of a high-profile BEC offender affiliated with the ‘hard–to–access,’ Black Axe gang.

Elements of a doctrine of transnational constitutional norms

Abstract This article uses the traditions of constitutionalism to develop the building blocks of a doctrine of transitional constitutional norms. After arguing that existing doctrines of implicit constitutional unamendability, such as the basic structure and constitutional replacement doctrines, are derivative, the article provides an account of the underlying primary doctrine: transnational constitutional norms. From the perspective of the form of government, constitutional norms are divided into peremptory and voluntary norms. Unearthing an old, but now largely forgotten, tradition of political thought, it defines peremptory norms as norms that derive from or constitute the form of government. These constitutional norms have a complex nature: domestic and transnational. The transnational dimension immunizes the people’s choice in favor of the democratic form of government by protecting peremptory norms from deselection, defined as the impermissible alteration or replacement of that form of government through piecemeal derogation from peremptory norms. Only the people as pouvoirconstituant, but not their representatives, may chose the form of government and only through a full-scale process of constitution-making. The article uses judicial independence to illustrate the idea of peremptory constitutional norms. The doctrine of transnational constitutional norms helps to resist attempts at undermining judicial independence and to protect the integrity of the democratic form of government against impermissible deselection.

Cultural mobilisation as a transnational phenomenon in the South African War of 1899–1902: a case study of Russian adolescents

Researchers have focused on the influence of cultural mobilisation on the population of a belligerent state. Yet, such mobilisation can spread abroad, affecting foreigners who sympathise with the goals of military campaigns led by other nations. For example, the Boer cultural mobilisation during the South African War of 1899–1902 led to the self-mobilisation of foreign volunteers, including Russian adolescents. The pro-Boer messages originating in the South African republics were internalised by other cultures. Although the initial impulse comes from the belligerent nation, cultural mobilisation can have a transnational dimension, defined and developed by its agents in their own countries.

A relational and genealogical approach to populism: The cases of Russia, Turkey and the United States

ABSTRACT Studies on religious populism are on the rise. They are located within the three main theoretical approaches of populism: ideational, performative, and strategic. Building on these three components, this paper proposes a comprehensive analysis by creating an ideal type of the relations between religion and populism. To that effect, it utilizes the relational paradigm of populism from Pierre Ostiguy in conjunction with Ernest Laclau's concept of sedimented practices and applies a genealogical method to analyse why and how religion plays a role in populist politics. This combination emphasises the fluidity of the interactions between religion and populism, their contingency on contextualised political cultures as well as on the often neglected transnational forms of religion. It focuses on two aspects of this role that have been less discussed: 1) the religious actions toward the political establishment 2) the transnational dimension of the populist politics based on religion.

Montana as Place of (Un)Belonging: Landscape, Identity, and the American West in Bella Vista (2014)

Abstract The American West is not just a geographical terrain but a mythical construct that occupies a powerful place in the popular imagination thanks to myriad literary and artistic works that have presented the region through specific archetypes emphasizing its vast ruggedness, white masculinity, and unique Americanness. In recent decades, revisionist scholarly and artistic works, however, have attempted to offer more nuanced perspectives on the region challenging its assumed homogenous history and fixed and stable identity. In particular, women filmmakers have recast the region through multifaceted representations underlining its complexity, diversity, and transnational dimensions. This article analyzes Vera Brunner-Sung’s film Bella Vista (2014) to examine how the film intervenes in previously constructed representations of the American West through its emphasis on transience, displacement, and belonging. Set and made in Montana, the film employs a “slow cinema” aesthetic to offer deep insights into the local and global dynamics of the place as well as the formation of identity and (un)belonging within a Western landscape. The film, as the article argues, provides a reconsideration of the West through diverse localities that are in constant relation with the outside and in turn have generated diverse individual experiences regarding the place.

Pursuing the Long Shadow over the "Domestic Church": Toward a Global History of Abuse in Catholic Settings

Abstract: This article makes the case for a new phase of research on the abuse crisis and calls for a collaborative endeavor aiming at an interdisciplinary, historically contextualized account of the global history of abuse of children and vulnerable adults in the Catholic Church. This requires a redefinition of the scope of enquiry from the national to the global, and a refocusing of the analytical optic beyond a perpetrator-focused, pathologizing approach to clergy sexual abuse to situate sexual and spiritual abuse in the Catholic Church in its wider enabling ecosystem. We propose a scaled and spatial approach, focused on delineating understandings of the "domestic church" in a given context. This broader focus on interactions between the "three-legged stool" of the family-parish-school, particularly as contextualized in their ecclesial and socio-economic dynamics, extends the analysis beyond media-framed narratives and judicial approaches and allows for comparability across national settings. The article sets out the urgent need for a multi-disciplinary, mixed-method, and coordinated approach, given the many facets of the crisis (legal, political, cultural, financial, psychological, but also theological and spiritual), and the transnational dimensions of this epidemic within (and beyond) the Church that are yet to be fully discerned and historicized.

Perspective. The mirage of Europeanising industrial relations. What possibilities for East-West trade union cooperation?

This article outlines possibilities for deepening relationships between trade unions from the so-called old EU Member States and those from Central and Eastern Europe. We set out the possibilities for what we describe as enhanced multi-union transnational cooperation. By this we mean multilateral rather than bilateral cooperation that is deep enough to include the joint definition of goals and strategies, and willingness to build a transnational dimension to industrial relations, including, ultimately, conducting collective bargaining on some topics. A critical analysis of the so-called Europeanisation of industrial relations is the background to our discussion. We find the participation of trade unions in this process to be limited to responses to external impulses which results in the degree of enhanced multi-union transnational cooperation in areas of core trade union activity being low. We present the thesis that in-depth cooperation may be possible in relation to new challenges for the world of work, where the transnational dimension is of key importance and where trade unions are less bound by their own national traditions and industrial relations practices.

The Elasticity Of Caste In The Sikh Diaspora: Jat Cool and Caste Masculinities in the Pacific Northwest

Abstract: This article examines the transnational dimensions of caste and gender in the Punjabi Sikh diaspora of the Pacific Northwest. I explore how Jats (a landowning caste from Punjab, India) have positioned themselves at times as superior to Chamars (Punjabi Dalits or caste oppressed peoples) in the US-Canada borderland diaspora. Though Sikhism is a religion founded on anti-caste origins, the simultaneous repudiation of caste and celebration of Jat pride paradoxically illustrates structures of caste within the religion. The article unsettles the ways in which Jat men in the diaspora can be implicated in Jat pride and Jat cool: a social currency intertwined with popular culture and social media that reveals a particular caste masculinity. While not all Jats engage with Jat pride, and in fact many are involved in anti-caste praxis, it is important to situate the pervasiveness of these hierarchical ideologies within intra-Sikh communities to understand the permutations and stickiness of caste within the diaspora. I build on Asian American approaches to theorizing caste, youth cultures, and notions of “cool” to ultimately reveal how caste, rather than fixed or natural, is an elastic concept that is contingent upon how it is deployed within Sikh diasporic geographies and temporalities.