Transnational Networks Research Articles

Sensory Dislocation and Transnational Ties: Exploring the Forced Immobility of Older Russian Speakers in Finland Amidst COVID‐19 Restrictions

ABSTRACTThe COVID‐19 travel restrictions were especially distressing for migrants, whose transnational lifestyles and networks often rely on travelling, even in older age. Drawing on 20 interviews, this study analyses the effect of COVID restrictions on the transnational lives of older Russian migrants in Finland. The study highlights the importance of physical co‐presence in transnational relationships, showing that older migrants suffered from ‘sensory disconnection’ caused by forced immobility. In Finland, participants typically maintained narrow social circles dominated by kin relations. Amidst the pandemic, they sought comfort through nature and gardening, sensory‐rich practices akin to Soviet‐era dacha practices. Yet, the inability to reconnect physically with their country of origin, particularly for practices such as visits to cemeteries, emerged as a substantial source of emotional distress. Connection with deceased kin was an integral part of their transnational network. The findings suggest that maintaining transnational visits is key to the well‐being of many older migrants.

Building a Nation at War: Transnational Knowledge Networks and the Development of China during and after World War II, written by J. Megan Greene

Building a Nation at War: Transnational Knowledge Networks and the Development of China during and after World War II, written by J. Megan Greene

Cities against democratic backsliding: democratic resilience through urban resistance in the Visegrád 4 capitals

ABSTRACT How do cities fight democratic backsliding on the national level? Set in an increasingly illiberal context, the four Visegrád capitals (V4 capitals) Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Warsaw have elected progressive mayors that challenge national democratic backsliding locally. The conceptual framework presented in this article underlies the role of city democracy and city diplomacy in understanding cities’ role in democratisation and autocratisation processes. As part of their resistance against democratic backsliding, the four cities intensified their attempts to enhance local democracy and to set best practice examples. At the same time, they have also shown a strong determination to address democratic backsliding collectively. Their proactive response includes the establishment of a regional transnational advocacy network (TAN) known as the Pact of Free Cities, and the further engagement with pro-democracy external actors, including other cities, the European Union, and international organisations.

National Origins of International Solidarity Movements: Nationalism and International Solidarity for East Timor in Post-Cold War Southeast Asia

Abstract The international solidarity movement for the East Timorese was developed in Southeast Asian nations during the 1990s as ‘the issue of East Timor’ became a primary concern for the ASEAN countries’ civil society. Proponents of liberal democracy have assumed that international solidarity movements for human rights and democracy during the 1990s resulted from the powerful momentum of liberal democracy that universally linked foreign people. However, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri and their marxist followers have explained these transnational movements as a transnational network that overcomes national borders against the capitalist Empire. Nevertheless, the political history of transnational solidarity movements from East Timor to Southeast Asia in the post-Cold War 1990s makes clear that nationalism has continued to be an ideological driver to link people from different nations. Focusing on the international solidarity for the East Timorese independence struggle, this paper demonstrates a transnational function of nationalism through which international solidarity movements are created, resonate and function. The East Timor international solidarity struggle successfully created a transnational platform through the APCET conferences held in the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand in the 1990s. Socio-historical analysis of APCET reveals that nationalists in Southeast Asia shared collective memories of national struggles beyond their spaces and times to create a transnational force to support self-determination for the East Timorese. Through its analysis, this article extends the theoretical framework of nationalism that has explained nationalist movements to serve as a more powerful tool to explain international solidarity in the age of globalisation. (247 words)

Mobilising tensions: transnational union network formation in the Asia-Pacific region

Trade unions are an important actor in the social regulation of the transnational corporation. How and why trade unions engage with the continued rise of global corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives remains largely under-researched, particularly in transnational arenas beyond Europe. Transnational trade union networks are a concerted development intended to advance collective worker voice and influence, especially in contexts without a history of strong social dialogue. Our qualitative fieldwork centres on a transnational trade union network comprised of global, national, and local union representatives from different countries in the Asia-Pacific representing workers from one Germany-headquartered multinational corporation in the chemical sector. We examine how labour actors involved in the network engage with global CSR initiatives to advance worker voice and influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Our micro-sociological and relational approach focused on the practices, relations, and affective dimensions of building and sustaining a transnational network. What emerged is the centrality of tensions and how actors creatively utilise and shape those tensions into resources for building the network. We analyse the nature of the tensions and their effects and discuss how key actors work generatively with tensions.

Transnational networks of energy communities as counterpower in the European Union renewable energy transition framework

Abstract This article explores the communicative process by which transnational networks of energy communities (ECs) in Europe build counterpower vis-a-vis the European Union (EU) institutional framework, with the purpose of effectively contributing to the shaping and management of the EU policy and regulatory framework for renewable energy transition. Such a process consists in the identification of obstacles to effective participation, the facilitation of access to information on EU regulation and policy frameworks, and the production of technical knowledge that reframes how renewable energy transition is understood as a field of political intervention. The impact of EC networks, and other networks of related community-led initiatives, on the EU energy policy framework is still relatively small when compared to centralized, large-scale providers of energy. It is constrained by how differently EU regulatory and policy packages address ‘techno-energetic systems’ in energy transition, as well as disparities in the transposition of EU legislation by Member States. Still, EC networks are building counterpower by facilitating bottom-up information and skill sharing, focusing on facilitating access to information on EU regulation and policy frameworks, as well as producing knowledge that frames the obstacles to effective participation of ECs in policymaking. It expands the understanding of renewable energy transition as a field of policy intervention beyond merely instrumental logic, centred on regulation and policy support to technological innovation, by mainstreaming a substantive logic based on a comprehensive socioecological framing that embeds energy transition in a multidimensional understanding of territorial development and governance.

The evolution of transnational municipal knowledge networks

AbstractThe recent growth of transnational municipal networks requires a better understanding of their evolution. For some actors, this growth has resulted in arbitrary or top‐down decisions on network membership followed by low commitment and inefficient use of time and financial resources. By reinterpreting secondary data through an evolutionary approach, this paper argues that the overall systemic nature of the networks is shaped not only by their institutional settings and the composition of actors but also by a set of specific qualities (coherence, boundedness and unified function) that may change over time. Based on the network perspective and system approach, the paper advances our understanding of transnational knowledge networks and the maximising of their effectiveness. Using exemplars, it suggests a conceptual framework for the evolution of transnational municipal knowledge networks.

Open Systems Theory in Organizations and Geopolitics

This paper presents a theoretical approach exploring the application of Open Systems Theory within geopolitics. Traditionally, geopolitics has focused on state-centric power dynamics; however, the increasing influence of non-state actors such as multinational corporations, and transnational networks has blurred the boundaries between states and other global entities. By employing Open Systems Theory, this paper offers a new conceptual framework to understand the complex and interconnected nature of modern international relations. The study ultimately argues that Open Systems Theory provides a nuanced perspective essential for analyzing the evolving dynamics of global politics.

Implementation of a Clinical Decision Support System for Antimicrobial Prescribing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Multisectoral Qualitative Study.

Suboptimal use of antimicrobials is a driver of antimicrobial resistance in West Africa. Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) can facilitate access to updated and reliable recommendations. This study aimed to assess contextual factors that could facilitate the implementation of a CDSS for antimicrobial prescribing in West Africa and Central Africa and to identify tailored implementation strategies. This qualitative study was conducted through 21 semistructured individual interviews via videoconference with health care professionals between September and December 2020. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling in a transnational capacity-building network for hospital preparedness in West Africa. The interview guide included multiple constructs derived from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Interviews were transcribed, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The panel of participants included health practitioners (12/21, 57%), health actors trained in engineering (2/21, 10%), project managers (3/21, 14%), antimicrobial resistance research experts (2/21, 10%), a clinical microbiologist (1/21, 5%), and an anthropologist (1/21, 5%). Contextual factors influencing the implementation of eHealth tools existed at the individual, health care system, and national levels. At the individual level, the main challenge was to design a user-centered CDSS adapted to the prescriber's clinical routine and structural constraints. Most of the participants stated that the CDSS should not only target physicians in academic hospitals who can use their network to disseminate the tool but also general practitioners, primary care nurses, midwives, and other health care workers who are the main prescribers of antimicrobials in rural areas of West Africa. The heterogeneity in antimicrobial prescribing training among prescribers was a significant challenge to the use of a common CDSS. At the country level, weak pharmaceutical regulations, the lack of official guidelines for antimicrobial prescribing, limited access to clinical microbiology laboratories, self-medication, and disparity in health care coverage lead to inappropriate antimicrobial use and could limit the implementation and diffusion of CDSS for antimicrobial prescribing. Participants emphasized the importance of building a solid eHealth ecosystem in their countries by establishing academic partnerships, developing physician networks, and involving diverse stakeholders to address challenges. Additional implementation strategies included conducting a local needs assessment, identifying early adopters, promoting network weaving, using implementation advisers, and creating a learning collaborative. Participants noted that a CDSS for antimicrobial prescribing could be a powerful tool for the development and dissemination of official guidelines for infectious diseases in West Africa. These results suggest that a CDSS for antimicrobial prescribing adapted for nonspecialized prescribers could have a role in improving clinical decisions. They also confirm the relevance of adopting a cross-disciplinary approach with participants from different backgrounds to assess contextual factors, including social, political, and economic determinants.

A Global Campus Beyond the Cold War. Peace and Disarmament Among Spanish Academics during the Debate on Joining and Remaining in NATO (1981-1986)

Historiography has recently shown a special interest in assessing the cultural impact of the social engagement of academics during the Cold War through their advocacy of disarmament or human rights. This academic social activism became part of a complex “transnational civil society,” which was to influence international relations. In light of these considerations, this article aims to delve into the distinctive characteristics of the “nuclear culture” and “science diplomacy” of the Spanish academic world between 1981 and 1986. Spain’s experience of the final stage of the Cold War was somewhat unusual. The resurgence of nuclear tension between the two superpowers was mediated by the domestic political transition from a military dictatorship to a parliamentary democracy, but also by the democratisation of foreign policy and the accession of Spain to NATO. To understand how this took place and with what effects, this article will focus on three main points. Firstly, it will set out an analysis of the impact of historian E.P. Thompson’s critical thinking on the Cold War and the European Campaign for Disarmament among Spanish academics. Secondly, it will examine how certain academics, who played an active part in the debate either for or against joining and remaining in NATO, shaped the nuclear culture of the time through the daily press. Finally, it will argue the involvement, or lack thereof, of Spain’s scientific sector in transnational networks for peace and disarmament and how, through civil society itself, the foundations were laid for the first centres aimed at the dissemination and study of peace.

Global San Francisco and the Irish of the New Pacific

Abstract Following the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in January 1848, San Francisco established itself as the premier city of the western Americas. From the outset, its substantial Irish immigrant population enjoyed the standing of a charter group and exhibited high levels of political power and cultural influence, characteristics that were frequently noted by contemporaries and continued well into the twentieth century. While San Francisco's Irish population shared much in common with their compatriots in other American cities, the Golden City developed its own unique identity and quickly emerged as a truly global Irish city. Key features that account for its experience include the city's distinctive nineteenth-century population composition, which included a large Chinese component; the notable confidence of its Irish-born population compared with that in other American urban centers; and the unique westward orientation of the city and its people that contributed to San Francisco's pivotal role in emerging transnational Pacific networks.

Historical Geography in Brazil: Examining Backgrounds and New Perspectives

ABSTRACTThe sub‐discipline of historical geography in Brazil, in contrast to the Anglophone and Francophone scholarship, often tends to be overlooked by the northern disciplinary history of this sub‐discipline. In Brazil, historical geography studies emerged in the 1980s as a result of personal initiatives. Nonetheless, in the last few years, distinct generations of Brazilian historical geographers have contributed to this sub‐discipline's promotion and recognition, mainly by diversifying their methodological approaches and research interests. Undoubtedly, developing transnational academic networks and collaborations represents a crucial contribution. This review provides an overview of the main Brazilian historical geographers engaged in studying past geographies. It delves into the central themes they address and also examines the academic conferences and research groups responsible for establishing institutional spaces to foster the practice of historical geography in Brazil in recent years. In doing so, the review calls for a ‘polyphonic’ approach to historical geography, urging the inclusion of southern sites of knowledge production and embracing a diverse scholarship beyond the English‐speaking community.

Clandestine Issues

Abstract To this day, materials surrounding the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution that live in the archives of Addis Ababa University are designated as “clandestine literature.” Their publication was a clandestine affair; critiquing the emperor of the then-oldest Christian kingdom in the world and eventually professing Marxist thinking, they amounted to blasphemy. However, building an argument for Ethiopian revolution was premised on another heretical proposition: that Ethiopia, world-famous for having eluded European colonial rule, was a client state of US imperialism during the mid-century age of decolonization. This article employs a selection of Ethiopian revolutionary papers—including magazines, newspapers, and journals produced and distributed across Ethiopia, North America, and Europe—to provide a genealogy of “US Imperialism in Ethiopia,” a composite, hand-transcribed document of the late 1960s that has since been destroyed. Assembling materials marked by both their refutation of and proximity to US empire, this article argues that building the case for US imperialism in Ethiopia was a necessary step to clarify and link Ethiopian revolutionary struggle to anticolonialism. In the process, the article thinks with and extends the archival designation “clandestine” as both the conspiracy of alleging US imperialism in Ethiopia and an analytic for reading other transnational networks of revolutionary papers.

Revolutionary Tongues: Esperanto, Marxist Linguistics, and Anti-imperial Struggles in East Asia, 1930s–1940s

This article examines how Esperanto coalesced with leftist and anticolonial thinking in East Asia during the 1930s and early 1940s. It aims to complicate understandings of language, including planned languages, as a neutral and apolitical medium and to contribute to a growing body of Anglophone scholarly work on Esperanto by turning to the history of East Asian Esperantists. Examining the linguistic theories by Esperantist and Latinization activist Ye Laishi (Ĵelezo, 1911–1994) and the Esperanto writings of Hong Hyŏng-ui (1911–1968) and An U-saeng (1907–1991), the article argues that Esperanto provided the means for anticolonial activists to facilitate a transnational network of antiwar activism across and beyond East Asian and remain invested in internationalism amidst a time of nationalism and fascism

International sports federations as de facto lawmakers: Queer-feminist explorations of the gendered power of sports law

Abstract This article analyses the law-making power of international sports federations, with a specific focus on their authority of shaping global norms on gender. It explores a variety of international sporting rules from feminist and queer perspectives. These include the ban of rainbow armbands at the 2022 FIFA (Men’s) World Cup, rules on the participation of transgender persons in rugby, gendered and racialized uniform regulations in sports, and the Semenya case concerning the sports participation of women with variations in sex characteristics The analysis asserts that despite being non-state actors, international sports federations are de facto international lawmakers that disseminate hegemonic gender norms reflecting cis-hetero-sexism and white body norms. However, analysing the Semenya case and the decision of the Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in the case shows that the law-making power of international sports federations in shaping gender norms is not absolute but embedded in a transnational network of norms. The article concludes that subjecting international sports federations to a feminist, queer, and anti-racist legal analysis assists in understanding how hegemonic norms on gender circulate transnationally and enhances knowledge on how international law works in practice.

The place of the social in psychiatry: from structural determinants to the ecology of mind.

Social psychiatry considers the ways in which mental disorders are shaped by particular social environments. This paper outlines a cultural-ecosocial approach that emphasizes the ways in which cultural meaning and practices mediate the effects of the social determinants of mental health on the mechanisms of illness, disorder, and disease. Selective review of literature and conceptual synthesis. "The social" in psychiatry stands for the structures and dynamics of groups of people interacting on multiple scales from the intimate sphere of couple and family to neighbourhoods, communities, societies, nations, and transnational or global networks. These interactions create social contexts, niches, forms of belonging, identities, institutions, and larger systems that influence the causes, expression, course, and outcome of mental disorders. Characterizing these systems requires theory that considers the ways in which social systems constitute dynamical systems that configure material, energetic, and informational flows that give rise to human experience. Unpacking the health consequences of these local and extended systems requires an interdisciplinary approach that considers: (1) the social psychological, psychophysiological, and sociophysiological processes that mediate the impact of the environment on body, mind, and person; (2) the interactional dynamics of social systems that give rise to structural adversity and inequity as well as resilience; and (3) the recursive effects of self-understanding, agency and subjectivity. In the cultural-ecosocial view, "the social" is shorthand for interactional processes that constitute material and symbolic structures that provide cultural affordances, constraints, and challenges as well as resources for healing, recovery, and adaptation.

Academic return migration amidst North-to-South trend: an integrative inquiry into the case of Chinese international STEM researchers

ABSTRACT Set against the booming reverse migration of scientific talents from developed nations to newly-emerged advanced economies, this study particularly examines the return of Chinese early career researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Deploying a mixed research design that integrates quantitative and qualitative traditions, it aims to address three prominent knowledge gaps surrounding this emergent pattern of transnational academic migration. According to survey results, caring duties, career prospects, and cultural attachments have consistently emerged as the primary drivers for returnees who received PhD training in various host destinations. In contrast, economic and lifestyle concerns were of much less import to those completing the doctorate in leading Anglophone countries. Stark gender disparities were also observed, with male returnees’ desire to secure cultural familiarity and upward mobility especially evident and their use of transnational academic networks more prevalent. Moreover, participants who made the decision to return toward the end of their overseas sojourn and whose doctoral education was sponsored by the Chinese government demonstrated a significantly higher likelihood of considering onward migratory movement. While largely corroborating the quantitative findings, interview data further highlights the vital role of a justice-oriented university environment in attracting high-skilled talents from across different axes of social disadvantage. Throughout, it points to the prospective stickiness of return migration instigated amidst the radical shifts in global science. We conclude the paper with critical reflections on our empirical and methodological focus.

Tourism-Led Housing Commodification: Transnational Real Estate Networks and State-Permeated Property Investment in Havana, Cuba

ABSTRACT In a context of ever-growing demand for tourism property, this paper scrutinizes emerging forms of tourism-led housing commodification in Havana, Cuba. In 2011, the Cuban property market reopened to investment when the socialist government allowed the sale of private property at prices set in a market environment. We pay attention to the critical role of Cuban migrants, remittance investors and lifestyle elites in commodifying Havana’s historic housing stock and transforming residential property into short-term rentals, hotels, private restaurants and tourist boutiques. We demonstrate how the Cuban government has become an active market facilitator, either by restraining private competition or by encapsulating tourism property investment within broader channels of the state. We conclude that the case of Havana is indicative of broader trends in tourism and hospitality, particularly in the Global South and East. We propose tourism-led housing commodification as a conceptual framework for understanding these broader commonalities.

Uncertainties of Temporary Protection: Forcibly Displaced People From Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACTThe experiences of displaced persons, currently particularly from Ukraine, are reflected in the concept of temporary protection as an immediate response to mass displacement. This article proposes a consideration of temporary protection from the perspective of ‘openness’, ‘in‐betweenness’ and the various forms of insecurities in people's lives in new societies and on their journeys. Refugees are connected in multi‐layered networks along their routes; forced migration goes in all directions; therefore, fluidity, situational dependency and macro factors determine its dynamics. The empirical data on Ukrainian refugees in Slovenia and the consideration of the situation of Bosnian refugees in the period of the Yugoslav wars show a complex interplay of structural and individual factors that determine the position of temporarily protected persons in larger transnational networks. The article also reflects on the relational question of international protection from the perspective of ‘deservedness’ and hierarchies among different migrant groups.

The 1847 de Salis Experiment and Chinese Indentured Labour in Colonial Australia

In 1847 a pastoralist in southern New South Wales experimented with the use of indentured Chinese labourers. This article reveals the identity of this pastoralist to be Leopold Fane de Salis and examines his use of indentured Chinese labourers in his employ in the late 1840s and early 1850s. We argue that de Salis’ initial sourcing of Chinese labour illuminates the importance of local experimentation and transnational colonial trading networks in the iterative development of those larger indentured migration schemes which soon followed. Further, we interrogate the public representation of this experiment by analysing the experience of Chinese labourers as revealed through de Salis’ station ledgers.