Transnational Level Research Articles

“If the news is fake, imagine history”: The network state and the second bourgeois revolution

Written by Balaji Srinivasan (2022), founder of genetic testing firm Counsyl, former general partner at Andreesen Horowitz, and former CTO of Coinbase with close connections to anti-democratic tech billionaire Peter Thiel, The Network State imagines a new state form grounded in blockchain technology. After first situating the text within longer genealogies of neoliberalism, authoritarian freedom, and libertarian exit, I then overturn the book’s central premise: that exit to the digital frontier via network states will increase human freedom. In highlighting how societies dominated by private property restrict human freedom by forcing the many to exchange their labor power to the few to survive, I argue that the creation of zones like the network state are instead a reflection of our epoch’s major dynamic: the attempt to shift the rights of capital and the authority over those rights to the transnational level. In contrast to those that see zones as part of an emerging neofeudalism, I conclude that The Network State is better understood as a legitimating text for a second bourgeois revolution.

What kind of power can citizens exercise beyond the state? Globalizing democracy through representative claim-making

Abstract Across the developed democracies, there has been a rise in populist nationalism and anti-globalization sentiment aimed at reasserting sovereignty through the state. This article develops the concept of discursive power as an alternative basis for citizens to project their voice and influence into global politics. Discursive power arises from the framing role of ideas in orienting citizen judgements to the possibilities for acting beyond the state, as a precursor to deliberative forms of persuasion and agreement. Discursive power is ‘democratic’, we argue, when it enables those affected by global issues and problems to conceive of themselves as collective agents capable of responding. Generating discursive power outside the state, however, requires informal representatives to serve as interlocutors. Drawing on recent theories of representation, we describe how the claims of non-state actors could support the production and mobilization of citizens' discursive powers across borders. Our analysis underscores the importance of claim-making for progressive responses to globalization centred on the judgements of citizens. We conclude by surveying several challenges for democratic discursive power at the transnational and global levels and suggest some background institutions and practices to enhance this power.

Much ado about nothing?- a comparative perspective on adult career guidance policies in Finland and Denmark

ABSTRACT Transnational organizations like the OECD and the EU have, for many years, focussed on adult career guidance (ACG) as a policy for solving problems, especially those related to the labour market and labour market transitions. In this article, we take a closer look into the development of ACG policies in Finland and Denmark. Drawing on multiple streams theory, we investigate how ACG policies have developed over time, identifying policy windows and the coupling of ACG policies as a solution to different policy problems. We compare across the cases of Finland and Denmark in order to identify similarities and differences with the aim of understanding the development of ACG policies considering the transnational call towards more coherent national systems. Methodologically, we use document analysis, including the examination of policy documents, legal documents, reports and research articles. The period studied spans from the 1990s until today, reflecting the developments at transnational level with the EU Commission and the OECD pushing for more coherent systems.

Advocacy and credibility of land tenure in Ethiopia: Mitigating conflicts and threats

Social inequality resulting from war, exploitation, and land property is very evident in Ethiopia, which has a significant influence on the economic, social, and political situation of various groups of people. As a result, the primary objective of this study was to assess the significance of the Credibility Thesis in resolving land conflicts via the Formal, Actual, and Targeted (FAT) Institutional Framework. Moreover, this study was conducted to identify the key features and the role of credibility analysis in mitigating land conflicts by employing the Credibility Scales and Intervention (CSI) Checklist. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive literature review including land tenure studies from 1979 to 2020 was conducted. This review used original databases to ensure a comprehensive and extensive exploration of relevant scientific works. The results showed that the land problem in Ethiopia is not only related to the dynamics of social change and inequality at different global, regional, national, and transnational levels, but also provides access to land resources, the foundations of authority, livelihood, property, and citizenship. Furthermore, the lack of land security for non-indigenous minorities contributes to substantial ambiguity for land rights. Therefore, measures to increase land security and transfer land tenure can have an important influence on productivity and should be prioritized by policymakers. These measures may include elements from active land certification initiatives, but they should also specify the legal credit of certifications issued in the system and how to execute them.

Teachers’ values in a space of change: The idea of teacher assistants as re-negotiation of teacher professionalism

ABSTRACT Teacher professionalism has long been subject to contestation as embedded with certain ideas, norms and values. Transnational discourses on teacher professionalism have spurred the recontextualisation of the idea of teacher assistants in Swedish educational reform. Policy imperatives around increasing teachers’ professional responsibility and accountability have raised issues regarding what values around teacher professionalism ought to be prioritised. The aim of this article is to explore teachers’ values regarding professional responsibility in the compulsory school context based on the interaction with teacher assistants and in light of policy discourses on teacher professionalism. The concept of “discursive space” is utilised to explore juxtaposed values within the local and across national and transnational levels. This concept is based in a combination of discursive institutionalism and curriculum theory with an actor-centred approach around ideas and discourses in an institutional context. The analysis shows dilemmas around holistic aspects and fragmentation regarding professional responsibility, but also, possibilities when “sharing” responsibilities with teacher assistants. Dilemmas emerge around questions on purpose and temporal struggles. Dilemmas emerge regarding professional responsibility against accountability purposes and result-orientation. Re-negotiation of teacher professionalism is spurred by the idea of teacher assistants, and surrounding discourses, creating dilemmas for teachers in the negotiated discursive space.

Mobilising Transnational Labour Law in Search of Transformation in Europe

Abstract This paper provides a critical map of trade unions’ strategic engagements with transnational legal mechanisms in Europe. Despite high profile defeats and challenges faced by workers and trade unions before supranational courts, they have continued to mobilise complaint and supervisory mechanisms at the transnational level. This raises questions about the reasons why and how law is mobilised in the industrial relations context and over the transformative potential of transnational labour law. Legal argumentation has been mobilised to defend and redetermine legislative rights to protect vulnerable workers and provide the conditions for democracy at work. The experience of legal mobilisation detailed in this paper encourages a sceptical and pragmatic approach to social transformation via legal mobilisation. It will set out the legal opportunities that shape the effectiveness of transnational labour law mobilisation, as well as the structural limitations and competing normative interests that delimit the interpretive trajectory, recognition, and enjoyment of collective labour rights in contemporary Europe.

Exploring Multi-level Drivers of Accountants’ Opinions on the Changes Introduced by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

This study aims to identify drivers influencing Poland-based accountants’ opinions towards stricter sustainability reporting regulations in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Employing a multilevel model of social change as the theoretical framework, we analysed responses from 1,076 accountants in 2021. We used logit regression, to assess accountants’ perspectives on the expansion of sustainability reporting to a greater number of companies and its mandatory assurance. Our findings reveal that drivers at transnational (international regulations and standards), organisational (benefits tied to sustainability reporting), and individual (knowledge of reporting regulations) levels positively influence support for these measures. Conversely, drivers at the national level, captured by membership in the professional accountants’ association, were irrelevant. Our findings suggest that regulatory bodies should educate accountants on the benefits of sustainability reporting to improve their receptivity to new requirements. Countries adopting sustainability reporting later may need to invest more in developing accountants’ knowledge and skills.

Encompassing the everyday: Grounded responses to the geoeconomic

Everyday geoeconomics explores the often overlooked yet prevalent influence of geoeconomic forces on the daily lives of individuals and communities. This essay examines how economic strategies made at national and transnational levels resonate within local contexts, shaping consumption patterns, labour markets and socio-cultural dynamics. This reveals the intricate interplay between macroeconomic policies and their micro-level consequences on households and businesses, as well as ways in which actors manage their interests upwards within the context of an increasingly strategic global economy. Foregrounding local responses not only acknowledges geoeconomics’ tangible impacts, but also re-examines the methods in research on geoeconomics. Recognizing the significance of an everyday geoeconomics is essential for crafting inclusive policies that address the needs and aspirations of diverse populations.

Access to information and public participation: evaluating the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Europe

ABSTRACT The ‘Aarhus Convention’ – regulating access to environmental information, public participation and justice in environmental decision−making – is a key international agreement with a long history and a considerable number of signatory countries. While implementation has been studied nationally, there is little comparative research at the transnational level. Based on ten criteria, we analysed national implementation reports of the 2014, 2017 and 2021 reporting cycles in terms of how 33 countries in Europe have implemented the access to information and public participation pillars, and identified obstacles they encountered. We also studied similarities and differences supra-nationally. Overall, countries are quite successfully fulfilling the obligations of the two pillars. Most obstacles reported concern four criteria: access to information, information provision, interaction, and trust. Implementation practices have changed little from 2014 to 2021. However, East- and South-European countries report more, and more persistent or repetitive obstacles, compared to Northern and Western European countries. The national democratic context seems to affect the quality of implementation. The Convention’s compliance bodies and national agencies responsible for coordinating the implementation are encouraged to interact more closely, to account for the differences and leverage implementation.

Methodological Challenges: From the First to the Second Wave of the World Love Index

This article is methodological in nature, addressing and discussing the challenges the research team encountered in constructing a new international well-being index called the World Love Index. This index represents the first quantitative operationalization of the concept of Social Love, which seeks to capture actions or social relationships characterized by excess and care for the benefit of individuals outside the primary circle, loved for their irreducibility. Starting with a discussion of the project’s objective rooted in the Beyond GDP debate, the article first analyzes the theoretical definition of Social Love and its semantic dimensions for operationalization. It then focuses on the methodological construction of the index through secondary data analysis, particularly examining the transition from the first wave to the second wave. Through the first wave of the WLI, this concept was systematically investigated on a transnational level. However, the first wave faced criticism for its weaknesses due to decisions made during the index’s construction. This paper, from a purely methodological perspective, demonstrates how the second wave of the WLI aims to address these challenges and turn them into strengths.

A critical review of climate change mitigation policies in the EU ——based on vertical, horizontal and policy instrument perspectives

The European Union (EU) has consistently held a prominent global position in climate governance. This paper compiles 152 climate neutrality policies issued by the European Commission (EU Commission) and employs a systematic analytical framework including "Vertical Policy Hierarchy - Horizontal Policy Path – Systematic Policy instruments" to conduct an in-depth analysis of the EU's climate neutrality policy system.This study produces several findings as follows: First, the EU's climate neutrality policy hierarchy is characterized by a structure comprising "Long-Term Planning – Specific Measures - Financial Support". Second, the EU's policy formulation process for climate neutrality emphasizes the integration of a multi-party engagement mechanism involving "Nongovernmental Level - Regional Level - National Level - Transnational Level - Supranational Level", while extensively employing a "framework-content" policy-making methodology. Third, the EU's climate neutrality governance is guided by the dual objectives of achieving a "Cleaner Energy Structure" and "Recover Ecological Environment" pursuing a broad-ranging and multi-tiered policy pathway towards climate neutrality. Fourth, the EU leverages a combined approach of mandatory measures and guiding policies to propel the climate neutrality governance process, aspiring to achieve breakthroughs in new energy technology innovation through climate neutrality governance, thereby solidifying its international standing. Moreover, this study provides an outlook on the future of the EU's climate neutrality policy governance, positing that the EU's emphasis on climate neutrality governance will remain undiminished, with a heightened focus on guiding policies and an emphasis on the roles of enterprises and the public in advancing the realization of climate neutrality.

Agency, authority and universality in the promotion of global ELT textbook series

ABSTRACT There is at present much focus in ELT on describing and promoting teacher and learner agency. However, ELT as a professional field is concurrently characterised by an increasing orientation toward authoritative texts, particularly those imbued with authority at the transnational level. Global textbooks are a notable example, since they, along with global language testing and language policy, play an increasingly important role in determining teaching and learning practices across a range of different settings. Our focus in this paper is on how the authoritativeness of global textbooks is upheld in online promotional materials. Examining websites of three contemporary ELT textbook series, we analyse discourse strategies employed to legitimise the authoritative position of the textbooks and their publishers. We find that publishers legitimised their authority through strategic links to external forces (policy, testing), in this way foregrounding the universality of the textbooks. In contrast, the websites represented the agencies of teachers and learners only minimally, primarily as subordinate to the agency attributed to textbooks themselves. We conclude with a reflection on the need for applied critical scholarship in ELT that can offer practical alternatives and thus disrupt dominant notions of universality and the hierarchization of knowledge these are based on.

Football as a Medium for (Transnational) Integration of the Romani People

Southeastern Europe is home to numerous Romani communities, each distinctive in their own way depending on their country of origin and the time of immigration, language, customs, religion etc. Based on multi-sited ethnographic research (in the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Serbia), this paper discusses the role of football (professional, amateur and recreational) in the integration of the Roma people. Considering the size and diversity of Romani communities, research results show that football, as the most popular sport, enables easier social integration into the ethnic community on the local and transnational levels. Various football activities (minority football camps, tournaments) are initiated and organized by the Roma community itself. Although the Roma people legally enjoy full civil rights, football serves as a means to reduce discrimination, inequalities, poverty and social exclusion. In order for young Roma to train in clubs, they have to attend school regularly, which results in economic integration. This research also contributes to the creation of public integration policies which are implemented by the very minority and immigrant communities working transnationally.

Using Smart Wearable Devices for Supporting Patients Affected by Dementia in Rural Areas of Calabria

The improvement of health and social care needs the introduction of shared solution at transnational level. The SI4CARE (Social Inno- vation for Integrated Health Care) project is a transnational initiative within the Adriatic-Ionian regions aiming to develop strategies to improve the current status of health and social care. The project member Municipality of Miglierina, a small rural town in Calabria, is developing a pilot action related to the use of wearable device for monitoring people affected by dementia together with the project partner Ra.Gi.. Ra.Gi. is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting people with dementia in day care centers and so-called dementia-friendly communities. The pilot is based on the use of smart wearable devices to monitor these patients during their daily lifetime. This paper focuses on the design and implementation of the system discussing the proposed application, the strengths and weaknesses. We report results from a pilot experiment showing the effectiveness of this approach. Finally, the possibility of extending the experiment to the other Adriatic-Ionian region is presented.

The Ipiranga Society of Rio de Janeiro: tensions and limits of the emergence of gradual abolitionist associativism in Imperial Brazil (1855-1863)

The article deals with the Ipiranga Society (SI) of Rio de Janeiro, dedicated to the celebration of national independence through the granting of manumissions and its relationship with slavery. It seeks to understand whether there was abolitionism in the practices of the IS and how to characterize it. In broader terms, the relationship between slavery and the constitution of modern public space in mid-nineteenth-century Brazil is discussed, assessing its potentialities and limitations. The ambiguities of the IS’s practices of gradual abolitionism, their unfolding at the national and transnational levels, as well as the internal tensions within the association that led to the end of such practices, reinforced by state intervention, through the application of the “law of obstacles” of 1860, are indicated.

The Ipiranga Society of Rio de Janeiro: tensions and limits of the emergence of gradual abolitionist associativism in Imperial Brazil (1855-1863)

The article deals with the Ipiranga Society (SI) of Rio de Janeiro, dedicated to the celebration of national independence through the granting of manumissions and its relationship with slavery. It seeks to understand whether there was abolitionism in the practices of the IS and how to characterize it. In broader terms, the relationship between slavery and the constitution of modern public space in mid-nineteenth-century Brazil is discussed, assessing its potentialities and limitations. The ambiguities of the IS’s practices of gradual abolitionism, their unfolding at the national and transnational levels, as well as the internal tensions within the association that led to the end of such practices, reinforced by state intervention, through the application of the “law of obstacles” of 1860, are indicated.

Effective creation of ESG reporting using data from financial accounting in the food industry company

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reports in the synergy of the accounting system of the company. In building a system for ESG reporting, it is necessary to comply with valid transnational and national levels and at the same time create a system that will be able to fulfil its tasks in the future. This study presents an analysis possibility of using the company's accounting system for the efficient creation of ESG reporting. The paper presents the focused on the investigation of factors that influence the tendency to using the financial data for effective ESG reporting. Next step of the conducted analysis was the estimation of individual model to investigate specific factors and to identify differences between selected companies of food industry in region of western Slovakia. We used Binary logit model for estimated, based on the data coming from questionary survey in selection company. In this study strongly significant variable DocFA with a positive effect on the dependent variable referred to the agreement of respondents to use documentation from financial accounting for effective ESG reporting. For instance, respondents from the selected western region of Slovakia in the field of food industry have an 82% higher chance of using this documentation for effective ESG reporting. Significant variable AccountS is strongly significant (p-value less than 0.01) in selected companies in western region of Slovakia in field of food industry, which has positive impact to use financial data for effective ESG reporting.

Governing Corporations in National and Transnational Spaces: Cross‐Level Governmental Orchestration of Corporate Social Responsibility in South Korea

AbstractThe loose spatial and temporal coordination of national and transnational governmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies enables multinational corporations (MNCs) to externalize irresponsible behaviours. Political CSR (PCSR) and ‘government and CSR’ studies show how governmental authority shapes CSR at the domestic and transnational levels but provide only limited insights into how to govern MNCs across levels and over time. Combining the concept of orchestration with insights from power transition theory, we theorize cross‐level governmental orchestration as power‐imbued, dynamic, and involving multiple modes of orchestration. Through an analysis of how the South Korean state has deployed CSR domestic and transnational strategies over 30 years, we induce three configurations of cross‐level governmental orchestration, blending coercive, directive, delegative and facilitative modes of orchestration, and identify the mechanisms behind Korea's transition from one configuration to another. Our results: (1) contribute to PCSR and ‘government and CSR’ studies by conceptualizing a systemic and dynamic view of cross‐level orchestration of governmental CSR strategies; (2) advance transnational governance studies by consolidating orchestration theories and considering coercive power, and (3) add to power transition theory by explaining how regulatory capacity‐building enables shifts of cross‐level orchestration configurations.

Preserving the Rule of Law Through Transnational Soft Law: The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism

This contribution reflects on the role of soft law instruments to address the rule of law crisis, a topic of high relevance in the context of this special issue. Indeed, the EU-15 enlargement towards the ‘periphery’ proceeded also through soft law instruments, perceived to allow greater flexibility in monitoring. Soft law – or rules of conduct that have no legally binding force but may have legal and practical effects (Snyder 1993, 64) have been considered inappropriate by the literature in dealing with the regulation of values in EU law. However, a closer look at the career of soft law issued for Romania under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism appears to suggest a more nuanced picture. Whilst time is not yet ripe for a full assessment of the effectiveness of the tools, there are signs that show that the reports issued by the Commission within the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism process have had an influence in fostering change. They did so by catalysing litigation and, as a result, informing and fuelling an institutional dialogue on the rule of law at the transnational level.

The Global ESG Stewardship Ecosystem

Institutional investors are increasingly pushing their investee companies to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues—a phenomenon commonly called ESG stewardship. Scholars have put forward various reasons for investors’ enthusiasm for ESG stewardship. They include the financial materiality of ESG issues, a desire to appeal to ESG-conscious customers, and the scope for fund operators to charge higher fees for funds that pursue ESG strategies. There is, however, another critical factor at play. ESG stewardship is also underpinned by a transnational development—what this article calls the ‘global ESG stewardship ecosystem’. This global ecosystem is comprised of various ESG-focused actors, including United Nations agencies, institutional investors, investor networks, service providers to institutional investors, and NGOs and activist organizations. These actors operate in a highly networked manner at the transnational level to develop and disseminate norms of ESG stewardship throughout global markets, and encourage and coordinate investors’ ESG stewardship activities on the ground. This article highlights the scale, complexity and influence of the global ESG stewardship ecosystem, revealing it to be a significant facilitator of institutional investors’ ESG stewardship. This insight calls into question important contemporary assumptions and theories about institutional investors, including claims that they are ‘rationally reticent’, under-invest in corporate governance activities, and are incapable of overcoming collective action challenges. The global ESG stewardship ecosystem is also a remarkable example of the transnational influences shaping contemporary corporate governance. The ecosystem underpins the development and dissemination of norms of ESG stewardship and also assists institutional investors to undertake ESG stewardship ‘on the ground’ in the various markets in which they operate. The transnational influence of the ecosystem has important implications for national law makers and regulators who are focused on ESG investing and investor participation in public company corporate governance.