The superpower’s dilemma: to appease, repress, or transform transnational advocacy networks?
The superpower’s dilemma: to appease, repress, or transform transnational advocacy networks?
This introductory chapter spells out a crucial problem in the study of transnational networks from the perspective of international relations scholarship—if TANs are fundamentally ideational constructs, defined and driven by commitment to a core principle or cause, what are we to make of periodic changes to their mission and message? What is the role of China’s strong authoritarian state in shaping the trajectories and results of transnational advocacy campaigns? The chapter posits that the soft power of the state (backed by coercive capability) imposes incentives on TANs that can effect the various processes and pathways taken by advocacy campaigns. The chapter suggests that advocates and activists need to take the state and its structures seriously when crafting advocacy, given the causal influence these have over campaign trajectories and campaign results.
Keywords: Transnationalism, Global civil society, China, Soft power, Activism, Advocacy
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