Emotional Labor and the Power of International Bureaucrats

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-587
Author(s):  
Deepak Nair
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Principal Agent ◽  
General Phenomenon ◽  
Bureaucratic Power ◽  
Sociological Explanation

Abstract This article advances a theory on the power of international bureaucrats and bureaucracies in world politics. It argues that bureaucrats become powerful when they stage emotionally calibrated performances as “servants” before state principals and carve out space for action through “whispering,” “propagating,” cultivating patrons, and building coalitions in the backstage of official interaction. These “servant” performances involve what sociologist Arlie Hochschild calls “emotional labor”—the management of feelings in work performances. I develop a theory of emotional labor that suggests why international bureaucrats manage emotions as they perform as servants and why some bureaucrats with prized sociological profiles are empowered on the back of “confident” servant performances. In contrast to principal–agent, constructivist, and psychological accounts, this is a micro-sociological explanation for bureaucratic power. I evaluate this theory with an ethnography of the Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)—a “least likely” case for bureaucratic power under prevailing theorizations. I also demonstrate how the ASEAN case is a sharper instance of a more general phenomenon. This article advances the study of emotions and emotional labor, the role of social class in shaping competent practice, and the debate on the power of bureaucrats and international organizations in international relations.

The Role of International Organization: Limits and Possibilities

1956 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
International Organization ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
World Community ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Foreign Policies

No field of study is more slippery than international relations. The student of government has a clear frame of reference: the state within which occur the developments which he examines. The student of international relations, unhappily, oscillates between the assumption of a world community which does not exist, except as an ideal, and the various units whose decisions and connections form the pattern of world politics—mainly, the nation-states. International organizations therefore tend to be considered either as the first institutions of a world in search of its constitution or as instruments of foreign policies. The scholar who follows the first approach usually blames, correctly enough, the nation-states for the failures of the organization; but he rarely indicates the means which could be used to bring the realities of world society into line with his ideal. The scholar who takes the second approach stresses, accurately enough, how limited the autonomy of international organizations has been and how little they have contributed to the achievement of their objectives; but because he does not discuss his fundamental assumption—the permanence of the nation-state's driving role in world politics—he reaches somewhat too easily the conclusion that the only prospect in international affairs is more of the same.

scholarly journals The role of transnational companies in the reality of the new world

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (34) ◽  
pp. 97-105
Author(s):  
Anton A. Evsuykov
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Governance System ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Status ◽  
Transnational Companies

The purpose of the study is to analyze the problem of determining the status of transnational corporations in the system of global governance, in revealing the transition of transnational corporations from an economic subject of international relations to understanding it as a political actor in the system of international relations. The article covers a range of issues related to attempts to regulate foreign TNCs by national states, It also touches upon the issue of changing the positions of leading TNCs in the ratings compiled by authoritative publications over the past decade, an analysis of the influence of transnational corporations as non-state actors in world politics is carried out. Research methodology. Analysis of published survey reports of international organizations and individual leading transnational corporations. One of the most pressing issues in the study of the role and place of transnational corporations in world politics is the problem of determining the status of transnational corporations in the global governance system. As a result, we find that transnational corporations act in the global governance system as tools and as institutions, which requires the development of new scientific approaches that reflect the dynamics of the introduction of these actors into the system of world politics.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF END CHILD PROSTITUTION, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN FOR SEXUAL PURPOSES (ECPAT) IN ADDRESSING THE CHILD’S COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION (ESKA) IN INDONESIA (2011 – 2015)

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Yohanes Benedicktus Meninu Nalele
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Commercial Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Child Prostitution

Commercial sexual exploitation of children is a social problem that has several categories. This issue is scattered in many countries, especially in Asian countries. Child’s commercial sexual exploitation or eksploitasi seksual komersial anak (ESKA) can ruin the future of the children who are victims, of which they are the successors of the nation. Childhood should be filled by playing and learning but changing with the dark. The role of government as the supreme authority of a country in overcoming the problem of ESKA looks not maximized. The purpose of this research is to find out the role of international organizations in addressing the ESKA problem. International organizations, in this case, are ECPAT or End Child Prostitution, child pornographic grapy, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes. How are their efforts and roles in overcoming ESKA and its cooperation with the Indonesian government, obstacles, and challenges faced? The benefits of this journal are useful in the development of International Relations, especially those involving the role of international organizations in addressing the problems of ESKA. The method used is descriptive – qualitative, where this method illustrates and analyzes the role of ECPAT as an international organization in addressing the ESKA in Indonesia (2011 – 2015).

The Study of Peaceful Change in World Politics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.V. Paul
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Different Dimensions

This introductory chapter offers an overview of the core themes addressed in The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Change in International Relations. It begins with a discussion of the neglect of peaceful change and the overemphasis on war as the source of change in the discipline of international relations. Definitions of peaceful change in their different dimensions, in particular the maximalist and minimalist varieties, are offered. Systemic, regional, and domestic level changes are explored. This is followed by a discussion of the study and understanding of peaceful change during the interwar, Cold War, and post–Cold War eras. The chapter offers a brief summary of different theoretical perspectives in IR—realism, liberalism, constructivism, and critical as well as eclectic approaches—and how they explore peaceful change, its key mechanisms, and its feasibility. The chapter considers the role of great powers and key regional states as agents of change. The economic, social, ideational, ecological, and technological sources of change are also briefly discussed.

Part VI Actors, Ch.40 Epistemic Communities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haas Peter M
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Epistemic Community ◽  
Epistemic Communities ◽  
Causal Beliefs ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
History Of

This chapter begins with a definition and intellectual history of epistemic communities. ‘Epistemic communities’ is a concept developed by ‘soft’ constructivist scholars of international relations concerned with agency. Soft constructivists in general focus on the role of various types of norms, principled beliefs, causal beliefs, and discourses in establishing roles and rules in international relations: that is, determining the identities, interests, and practices that shape the identification of actors in international relations. The chapter then applies this definition to the study of international environmental law and discusses whether or not international lawyers constitute an epistemic community. It concludes with a discussion of some of the recent challenges to the influence of epistemic communities in world politics more broadly, and thus the future of international environmental law.

30. Nationalism, national self-determination, and international relations

2019 ◽  
pp. 481-497
Author(s):  
John Breuilly
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Different Types

This chapter examines the role of nationalism and national self-determination (NSD) in shaping the major institution of modern international relations: the nation-state. It considers different types of nationalism and how they vary from one another, whether the commonly accepted sequence of nation > nationalism > nation-state is actually the reverse of the normal historical sequence, and whether the principle of NSD is compatible with that of state sovereignty. The chapter also explores the contribution of nationalism to the globalization of world politics and the changing meanings of NSD since 1918. Four case studies of nationalism are presented: Kurdistan, Germany, India, and Yugoslavia. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether the principle of NSD threatens stable international relations.

27. Nationalism, national self-determination, and international relations

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Breuilly
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Different Types

This chapter examines the role of nationalism and national self-determination (NSD) in shaping the major institution of modern international relations: the nation-state. It considers different types of nationalism and how they vary from one another, whether the commonly accepted sequence of nation > nationalism > nation-state is actually the reverse of the normal historical sequence, and whether the principle of NSD is incompatible with that of state sovereignty. The chapter also explores the contribution of nationalism to the globalization of world politics and the changing meanings of NSD since 1918. Four case studies of nationalism are presented, in Kurdistan, Germany, India, and Yugoslavia. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether the principle of NSD threatens stable international relations.

22. NGOs in world politics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta Joachim
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Climate Justice ◽  
International Level ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Transnational Ngos

This chapter examines the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in world politics. It considers what distinguishes NGOs from other actors in international politics, what types of influence NGOs exert in international relations, and whether NGOs contribute to more democratic policy-making at the international level. The chapter also discusses the growing importance of NGOs and presents two case studies that illustrate how they have contributed to the emergence of new norms through their engagement with international governmental organizations (IGOs): the first is about campaigns run by transnational NGOs to end violence against women and the second is about their climate justice activism. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether transnational NGOs contribute to more democracy at the international level.

20. International organizations in world politics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Park
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

This chapter examines the role that international organizations play in world politics. It explains what international organizations are, whether we need international organizations in international relations, and what constraints and opportunities exist for international organizations to achieve their mandates. The chapter also considers the reasons why states create international organizations and how we can analyse the behaviour of such organizations. Two case studies are presented: the first is about the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the G77, and the second is about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the interests of money-centre banks. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether international organizations suffer from a ‘democratic deficit’.

scholarly journals On the concept of international disorder

2020 ◽  
pp. 004711782092228
Author(s):  
Aaron McKeil
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
International Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Order And Disorder ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Systems

International relations today are widely considered to be experiencing deepening disorder and the topic of international disorder is gaining increased attention. Yet, despite this recent interest in international disorder, in and beyond the academy, and despite the decades-long interest in international order, there is still little agreement on the concept of international disorder, which is often used imprecisely and with an alarmist rather than analytical usage. This is a problem if international disorder is to be understood in theory, towards addressing its concomitant problems and effects in practice. As such, this article identifies and explores two ways international order studies can benefit from a clearer and more precise conception of international disorder. First, it enables a more complete picture of how orderly international orders have been. Second, a greater understanding of the problem of international order is illuminated by a clearer grasp of the relation between order and disorder in world politics. The article advances these arguments in three steps. First, an analytical concept of international disorder is developed and proposed. Second, applying it to the modern history of international order, the extent to which there is a generative relationship between order and disorder in international systems is explored. Third, it specifies the deepening international disorder in international affairs today. It concludes by indicating a research agenda for International Relations and international order studies that takes the role of international disorder more seriously.

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