Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era - New in Paperback

Description

Winner, International Communication Book Award, International Studies Association, Shortlisted, 2023 Susan Strange Best Book Prize
Honorable Mention, 2023 Information Technology and Politics Best Book Award

Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era explores the role of digital advocacy organizations, a major new addition to the international arena. These organizations derive power and influence from their ability to rapidly mobilize members on-line and off-line, and are shaping public opinion on many issues including climate change, trade, and refugees. Research in international relations (IR) has highlighted the influence of non-governmental organizations, which wield power through their expertise and long-term, moral commitment to an issue. However, no IR scholars have explored the spread and power of digital advocacy organizations. Nina Hall provides a detailed investigation of how these organizations have harnessed digitally networked power and established new advocacy strategies. They can quickly respond to the most salient issues of the day, and mobilize large memberships, to put pressure on politicians. She finds that these organizations operate in a globalized world but tackle transnational problems by focusing on national targets. This new generation of activists have formed a strong transnational network, but still see the state as the locus of power.

About the author: Nina Hall is an Assistant Professor in International Relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (Europe). She previously worked as a Lecturer at the Hertie School of Governance, where she published her first book Displacement, Development, and Climate Change: International Organizations Moving Beyond their Mandates? (Routledge, 2016). She holds a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and is the co-founder of an independent and progressive think tank, Te Kuaka (formerly New Zealand Alternative). She has been a Senior Fellow at the Weizenbaum Institute (the German Internet Institute) and a Faculty Affiliate at the SNF Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University.

Reviews

"The book reminds scholars of transnational advocacy that new forms of activism regularly challenge the dominance of traditional groups established well before the internet age." - Hans Peter Schmitz, University of San Diego, Global Perspectives

"Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era helps scholars and activists understand vital questions about when and why digital advocacy organizations choose to work transnationally. Bridging work in political communications and international relations, its incisive analysis reveals both the power and tensions inherent in the digital advocacy model." - Jennifer Hadden, University of Maryland

"Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era is groundbreaking work. Nina Hall's extensive research documents an organizational form that has gained traction across national settings. These are groups that extend beyond individual protest moments, building movement capacity and transforming it into long-term political power. This is the first book to examine such organizations through a comparative, cross-national lens. It has a lot to teach both academics and practitioners who specialize in this field." - David Karpf, George Washington University

"This book importantly captures shifts in how transnational advocacy occurs even in an era when many states have restricted the ability of such organizations to operate. Hall finds that advocacy organizations see the state as the most important locus of power, and hence the target of their campaigns which are nationally based and include campaigns on elections, unlike charitable organizations which are typically precluded from doing so. These are nonetheless transnational phenomena insofar as these organizations have diffused the advocacy model of rapid-response tactics like analytic digital activism and messaging to rapidly mobilize large memberships—offline and online—rather than relying on professional staff wielding expertise over a given issue. This is an insightful handbook of new forms of advocacy in the face of changing political and technological environments for students, scholars, and practitioners." - Richard Price, The University of British Columbia

"With this timely and compelling book Nina Hall brings international relations scholarship on transnational advocacy into the digital age. Hall spells out the unique nature and contributions of digital advocacy organizations, drawing on careful research on diverse organizations working on a range of issues." - Kathryn Sikkink, Harvard University

"Nina Hall has identified an important new source of power in global politics and created a valuable framework for further research." - Anne-Marie Slaughter, Princeton University

"Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era offers a detailed accounting of a new actor in international politics: digital advocacy organizations. The book's rich ethnographic research takes the reader to the frontlines of organizations' strategic meetings and rapid-response campaigns. It persuasively argues that these organizations are different from traditional NGOs: they are more focused on the national level and beholden to the will of their members...Hall's research offers a compelling starting point to begin to understand their impact." - Kelly Morrison, The Journal of Development Studies

Table of contents

1:Introduction
2:The Power of Digital Advocacy Organizations
3:Emulation and Propagation
4:Campaigning
5:A Transnational Network: Connect, Enhance and Collaborate
6:Trends in Transnational Campaigning: Issues, Targets, and Partners
7:Mobilizing for Climate Action
8:Member-Driven or Staff-Stewardship?
9:Conclusion
Appendix
References