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The structural preconditions for the emergence of transnational public spheres
Abstract
p>This thesis poses the following question: do the structural preconditions exist in the present for the emergence of transnational public spheres? Following a reconstruction of Habermasian public sphere theory, I define a transnational public sphere as a site of deliberation in which non-state actors reach understandings about issues of common concern. I identify trends that may coalesce to provide the structural preconditions for the emergence of transnational public spheres. These are threefold. First, developing communicative capacity across state borders due to new media technologies, particularly the internet. Second, transformations in sites of political authority, such as the evolution of multi-layered global governance, which poses challenges to traditional conceptions of state sovereignty. Third, emerging transnational communities of recognition that use new media to communicate and to politically mobilise.
I define a community of recognition as distinguished by the following; by a sense of collection identity as a ‘public’ due to shared identities and interests, and by the demonstration of a common endorsement of the norms of publicity in communicative interaction. With reference to these criteria, I examine the activities of three transnational social movements: the international women’s movement, the Zapatista movement and Greenpeace and the international environmental movement. I also consider whether a transformative influence can be identified on hegemonic discourse and the international institutional framework as a result of the activities of these movements.
I argue that a suitable environment has developed in which transnational public spheres can indeed emerge. However, the development and consolidation of transnational public spheres may be constrained by other factors. These include global disparities in access and ownership to communication technologies, and the influence of private and state interests on the development of new media. I conclude with some suggestions for future research.</p
The public sphere is a pivotal concept in democratic theory. Conventionally, it is framed in a local/national context. In the classic Habermasian formulation, the public sphere is predicated on national media, a sovereign state, and participatory citizenry. However, under conditions of globalisation, the nation-state paradigm is subject to increasingly significant challenges. The advent of the network society is also destabilising the institutional foundations of the national public. These developments necessitate a reassessment of the public sphere as a territorially delimited realm. A reconstruction of Habermasian theory reveals how global interconnections may be providing the structural preconditions for the emergence of transnational public spheres. The categories of flows are threefold: communicative networks, governance networks, and activist networks. In certain issue-areas, all three preconditions may coalesce to produce an environment suitable for the emergence of transnational public spheres. However, the potential for the realisation of 'borderless' public spheres is circumscribed by key factors. Global communication is systematically distorted, global governance is democratically deficient, and the norms of critical publicity are difficult to sustain amongst highly differentiated virtual audiences. Unless these issues are addressed, the early promise of transnational networks as an emancipatory force will be neutralised.
This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of global governance from a gendered perspective. It not only furthers the emerging feminist theorizing on global governance, but also provides a theoretically informed and empirically based analysis of both institutions and transformative practices. © Shirin M. Rai and Georgina Waylen 2008 and contributors 2008.
The feminist movement may seek democratization on a global scale, but women are still hampered by a democratic deficit in terms of economic and political power. On the other hand, global feminist networks and new expanded forms of non-territorial political space do appear to be increasing democratic participation for women.
The past century has seen developments in communications technology probably unrivalled in any other field of human activity. Significant advances are made every year, and both our work and leisure activities are critically influenced by these developments. Getting the message explores the fascinating history of communications, starting with ancient civilisations, the Greeks and Romans, then leading through the development of the electric telegraph, and up to the present day with email and cellular phones. The technology is explained in a particularly simple and accessible way, and themes from politics, economics, and society weave in and out of the scientific ideas. The book concludes with a look at the possible future of communications, the new developments to come, and the implications these will have for our everyday lives. Lavishly illustrated, and including many original illustrations that show just how these new developments were received in their time, the book presents an informative and highly entertaining introduction to the field of communications.
Series Blurb Oxford Readings in Feminism provide accessible, one-volume guides to the very best in contemporary feminist thinking, assessing its impact and importance in key areas of study. Collected together by scholars of outstanding reputation in their field, the articles chosen represent the most important work on feminist issues, and concise, lively introductions to each volume crystallize the main line of debate in the field. The categories of public and private have been at the centre of feminist theory for the past three decades. Focusing on the gendered relations of sexuality and the body, family life and democratic citizenship, feminists have redirected public debate on questions of privacy and publicity. They have challenged leading theories of the public sphere, adding immeasurably to the historical and cross-cultural understanding of public and private life, from the rise of liberal and democratic institutions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to today's media-saturated public sphere. This volume presents the results of this multi-disciplinary feminist exploration. Contributors demonstrate the significance of the public/private distinction in feminist theory, its articulation in the modern and late modern public sphere, and its impact on identity politics within feminism in recent years. Feminism, the Public and the Private offers an essential perspective on feminist theory for students and teachers of women's and gender studies, cultural studies, history, political theory, geography and sociology.
In this chapter, we look at the interaction between the public sphere and the growth of populism. We see the medialization, the tabloidization of politics, and the emergence of new media as important elements of the transformation of the public sphere. A significant feature of the modern public sphere is sensationalism, the orientation toward achieving the highest possible rating, most often through the appeal of emotions. Due to the creation of many media and the fragmentation of the media market, and in the conditions of commercialization of the public sphere, the media in the race for rating began to give more space to sensationalist news, and politics began to personalize. The characteristics of the new public sphere created a precondition for creating distrust of the establishment and promoting new, often populist, political solutions. In such conditions, the charismatic populist leaders did particularly well.
Mediated Politics explores the changing media environments in contemporary democracy: the internet, the decline of network news and the daily newspaper; the growing tendency to treat election campaigns as competing product advertisements; the blurring lines between news, ads, and entertainment. By combining new developments in political communication with core questions about politics and policy, a distinguished roster of international scholars offers new perspectives and directions for further study. Several broad questions emerge from the book: with ever-increasing media outlets creating more specialized segments, what happens to broader issues? Are there implications for a sense of community? Should media give people only what they want, or also what they need to be good citizens? These and other tensions created by the changing nature of political communication are covered in sections on the changing public sphere; shifts in the nature of political communication; the new shape of public opinion; transformations of political campaigns; and alterations in citizens' needs and involvement.
A world government capable of controlling nation-states has never evolved. Nonetheless, considerable governance underlies the current order among states, facilitates absorption of the rapid changes at work in the world, and that direction to the challenges posed by interstate conflicts, environmental pollution, currency crises, and the many other problems to which an ever expanding global interdependence gives rise. In this study, nine leading international relations specialists examine the central features of this governance without government. They explore its ideological bases, behavioural patterns, and institutional arrangements as well as the pervasive changes presently at work within and among states. Within this context of change and order, the authors consider the role of the Concert of Europe and the pillars of the Westphalian system, the effectiveness of international institutions and regulatory mechanisms, the European Community and the micro-underpinnings of macro- governance practices.
Taking a fresh look at the impact of non-state actors on world politics and on the foreign policies of states, this book revives the debate on transnational relations which started in the 1970s. This debate withered away in the face of state-centered approaches, but this book's new approach emphasizes the interaction of states and transnational actors, arguing that domestic structures of the state as well as international institutions mediate the policy influence of transnational actors. Empirical chapters examine the European Economic and Monetary Union, US-Japanese transnational relations, multinational corporations in East Asia, Soviet and Russian security policy, democratization in Eastern Europe, and ivory management in Africa. The book concludes with chapters discussing the theoretical implications of the findings in the empirical studies.
Cambridge Core - Political Theory - Discursive Democracy - by John S. Dryzek
Public broadcasting was the single most important social, cultural, and journalistic institution of the twentieth century. In the 15 years preceding the publication of this book, it had been assaulted politically, ideologically, technologically, and was everywhere in retreat. This book considers the idea of public service broadcasting and examines in detail the assault made upon it, with specific emphasis on global developments and events in the United Kingdom, Japan, Europe, and the United States. It argues that public service broadcasting has been a vital and democratically significant institution now experiencing a terminal decline brought about by changes in political, economic, and technological circumstances. Based on years of research and extensive contact with leading public broadcasters around the world, the book examines the idea of public service broadcasting and how for the most part it has vainly (and often ineffectually) struggled to survive. It concludes that public broadcasting is, as was once said of Weimar, a corpse on leave. Its likely disappearance constitutes an indication of a real and deep-seated crisis within liberal democracy.
By focusing on issues of identity, this study offers a radically new approach to the understanding and explanation of international relations. The text critiques dominant approaches to identity in international relations and highlights the complexity of forms of identification and allegiance in the contemporary world. The text raises issues and concerns common to many areas of the social sciences. Student involvement throughout the book's production has ensured that the book is written in an accessible style. It will therefore appeal to a wide readership.
The growing interdependence on a global scale which characterizes the human condition at the turn of the century constitutes a challenge for both the mobilization of social movements and social movement theory. The present volume makes an attempt to adjust the perspective of the political process approach to a world in which political opportunities, mobilizing structures, framing processes and collective action of social movements are no longer confined to national political contexts.
Mass Media, Politics and Democracy provides a broad ranging overview of all aspects of the relationship between the media and politics. Drawing its examples from a wide range of developed liberal democracies, the book combines an accessible account of the political impact and regulation of the mass media today, with an assessment of the democratic potential and anti-democratic dangers of new media technologies.
Book synopsis: Since the end of the Cold War, activists and scholars alike have celebrated the phenomenal growth of transnational social movements across the globe. For some, this new eruption of grass-roots political activism on a world scale - from the Rio Earth Summit to the Seattle anti-globalization protests - represents the emergence of a global or transnational civil society. This book provides a critical survey of recent approaches to the study of civil society and international relations, presenting an alternative historical and sociological account of the interaction between these two spheres. It makes a theoretical case for the importance of social movements in world politics arguing that modern social movements emerging out of civil society have been instrumental in shaping the contemporary international system. In this wide-ranging engagement with past and present controversies in international relations, Colas shows how a renewed conception of international civil society can illuminate future possibilities for international social movement activity. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of international relations, political sociology and social history, as well as those who seek to play a part in global politics.
List of Tables and Figures - Preface - List of Abbreviations - The Larger Questions: Communication in the Literature of International Relations and in International Relations Theory - The Structure of International Communications - International Trade in Cultural Products - The International Politics of News - The Phenomenon of Cultural Relations - Reforming International Communication: The NWICO Debate - Communication and World Orders - Index
The American Historical Review (AHR) is the official publication of the American Historical Association (AHA). The AHA was founded in 1884 and chartered by Congress in 1889 to serve the interests of the entire discipline of history. Aligning with the AHA?s mission, the AHR has been the journal of record for the historical profession in the United States since 1895?the only journal that brings together scholarship from every major field of historical study. The AHR is unparalleled in its efforts to choose articles that are new in content and interpretation and that make a contribution to historical knowledge. The journal also publishes approximately one thousand book reviews per year, surveying and reporting the most important contemporary historical scholarship in the discipline
Building on a growing literature in international political science, I reexamine the traditional liberal claim that governments founded on a respect for individual liberty exercise “restraint” and “peaceful intentions” in their foreign policy. I look at three distinct theoretical traditions of liberalism, attributable to three theorists: Schumpeter, a democratic capitalist whose explanation of liberal pacifism we often invoke; Machiavelli, a classical republican whose glory is an imperialism we often practice; and Kant, a liberal republican whose theory of internationalism best accounts for what we are. Despite the contradictions of liberal pacifism and liberal imperialism, I find, with Kant and other democratic republicans, that liberalism does leave a coherent legacy on foreign affairs. Liberal states are different. They are indeed peaceful. They are also prone to make war. Liberal states have created a separate peace, as Kant argued they would, and have also discovered liberal reasons for aggression, as he feared they might. I conclude by arguing that the differences among liberal pacifism, liberal imperialism, and Kant's internationalism are not arbitrary. They are rooted in differing conceptions of the citizen and the state. © 1986, American Political Science Association. All rights reserved.
