scholarly journals The role of mobile policies in coalition building: The Barcelona model as coalition magnet in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro (1989–1996)

Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 004209802093980
Author(s):  
Gabriel Silvestre ◽  
Guillermo Jajamovich
Keyword(s):  
Urban Policy ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Policy Ideas ◽  
Global North ◽  
Key Policy

Research on policy mobility has tended to focus on what moves (e.g. policy models, templates) and who moves them (e.g. consultants, international organisations), with less attention paid to the relational politics of grounding dominant ideas in local policymaking. The ‘demand side’ at the end of the mobilisation process (e.g. local authorities and policy actors) is usually depicted as passive or as having stable interests. This assumption is problematic as it can reinforce taken-for-granted power asymmetries in the flow of urban policy ideas, particularly in cases where cities in the Global North are presented as ‘exporting sites’ for a Global South audience of ‘importing sites’. Drawing on the concept of policy ideas as ‘coalition magnets’ from policy studies, this article demonstrates how local policies are relationally produced by cosmopolitan policy actors on the ‘demand side’ who strategically mobilise circulating ideas as a tool for coalition building. We provide a relational comparative study of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro’s policy processes and urban outcomes in mobilising the Barcelona model of urban regeneration and strategic planning, drawing on evidence from interviews, document analysis and the biographies of key policy actors. We demonstrate the strategic importance of mobile policies for emerging political actors who employ them as a ‘coalition magnet’ to build support for their governments.

scholarly journals The Mobility and/or Fixity of Urban and Planning Policies – The Role of Divergent Urban Planning Cultures

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Hamedinger
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Policy Models ◽  
Regional Factors ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Policy Mobilities

Cities and regions are increasingly interconnected on a global scale. In the process of the making of cities and regions policy actors increasingly rely on globally flowing and very mobile urban policy models, which have been originally developed in different socio-spatial contexts. Simultaneously the search for these policies and their implementation is refracted by local/regional factors, which are relatively fixed as they are rooted in historically produced planning cultures. In this conceptual paper governance change is discussed through looking at the interplay between fixity and motion in urban development. For this purpose approaches to planning cultures and policy mobilities are related to each other theoretically.

scholarly journals Do International Organizations Influence Domestic Policy Outcomes in OECD Countries?

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-86
Author(s):  
Linda A. White
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
National Level ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Domestic Policy ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Policy Ideas ◽  
Global North

AbstractThis chapter examines to what extent policy ideas and norms promoted at the transnational and international level around gender and family policy are influential at the domestic policy level in OECD countries. Existing research demonstrates a mixed record in terms of transnational and international non-state actors’ influence on domestic policy in the Global North. This chapter argues that international norms are diffusing to domestic policy actors and processes rather unevenly. While international organizations (IOs) and transnational advocates can facilitate the spread of ideas of best practices around gender equality in general and family policy in particular, for liberal welfare states (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, USA), IOs are still less authoritative than the national level when it comes to on-the-ground policymaking.

Directing the Show? Business Leaders, Local Partnership, and Economic Regeneration in Sheffield

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Strange
Keyword(s):  
Urban Policy ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Economic Restructuring ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Local Business ◽  
Growth Coalition

The processes of urban economic restructuring in Britain, and the political responses to it, have entailed not only a drive but also a need for greater cooperation between government and nongovernment actors. The process of economic restructuring, together with a raft of centrally determined urban policy measures which have transformed the modus operandi of the local state, have made governing at the local level a more complex and more fragmented task. In this context of shifting relations between business, state, and urban policy, I examine the role of business in the regeneration of Sheffield and assess whether local business leaders have been able to establish a distinctive business-oriented agenda for regeneration. In the analysis I trace the evolution of business participation in the city's regeneration network, and reveal the struggles faced by the business community in the process of coalition building. A further aim in the paper is to examine the relevance of growth-coalition and urban-regime theories in interpreting the role of local business leaders in the changing landscape of urban governance.

Digital Borders, Diasporic Flows and the Nigerian Transgender Beauty Queen Who Would Not Be Denied

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
B Camminga
Keyword(s):  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Beauty Pageant ◽  
Global North ◽  
Lgbt People ◽  
Tabloid Press

In 2011, Miss Sahhara, a transgender woman from Nigeria with UK refugee status, was crowned First Princess at the world’s largest and most prestigious beauty pageant for transgender women—Miss International Queen. The then Cultural Minister of Nigeria when contacted for comment responded that if she was transgender, she could not be Nigerian, and if she was Nigerian, she could not be transgender—a tacit denial of her very existence. In recent years, LGBT people “fleeing Africa” to the “Global North” has become a common media trope. Responses to this, emanating from a variety of African voices, have provided a more nuanced reading of sexuality. What has been absent from these readings has been the role of gender expression, particularly a consideration of transgender experiences. I understand transgender refugees to have taken up “lines of flight” such that, in a Deleuzian sense, they do not only flee persecution in countries of origin but also recreate or speak back to systems of control and oppressive social conditions. Some transgender people who have left, like Miss Sahhara, have not gone silently, using digital means to project a new political visibility of individuals, those who are both transgender and African, back at the African continent. In Miss Sahhara’s case, this political visibility has not gone unnoticed in the Nigerian tabloid press. Drawing on the story of Miss Sahhara, this paper maps these flows and contraflows, asking what they might reveal about configurations of nationhood, gender and sexuality as they are formed at both the digital and physical interstices between Africa and the Global North.

The Role of Government Backbenchers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Russell ◽  
Daniel Gover
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Corporate Manslaughter ◽  
Party Cohesion ◽  
Government Legislation

This chapter explores how government backbench parliamentarians in both chambers at Westminster influence the content of government legislation and the dynamics of politics. Government backbenchers are often thought to be Westminster’s most influential policy actors, operating through the ‘intraparty mode’. As summarized here, governments have recently become less able to rely on their votes, thanks to declining party cohesion. Yet governments are rarely defeated as a result of rebellious votes. This chapter analyses government backbenchers’ amendments proposed to the 12 case study bills—some of which served purposes other than immediate policy change—and their role as ‘pivotal voters’ in resolving legislative disputes with other (particularly opposition) actors. It also emphasizes their influence on legislation before it is introduced, and the importance of ‘anticipated reactions’. For example, ministers introduced the Corporate Manslaughter Bill only reluctantly, following backbench pressure. Backbenchers hence have subtle, and often hidden, influence in the legislative process.

The Ethics of Petroleum

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathon W. Moses ◽  
Bjørn Letnes
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Corporate Citizenship ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Oil Company

This chapter considers the role of international oil companies (IOCs) as global political actors with significant economic and political power. In doing so, we weigh the ethical costs and benefits for individuals, companies, and states alike. Using the concepts of “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) and “corporate citizenship” as points of departure, we consider the extent to which international oil companies have social and political responsibilities in the countries where they operate and what the host country can do to encourage this sort of behavior. We examine the nature of anticorruption legislation in several of the sending countries (including Norway), and look closely at how the Norwegian national oil company (NOC), Statoil, has navigated these ethical waters.

Narratives of Queer Migration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gray ◽  
Mike Baynham
Keyword(s):  
The European Union ◽  
Spatial Mobility ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
Depth Migration ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Global North ◽  
Economic Necessity ◽  
The Village ◽  
The City

This chapter considers the phenomenon of queer migration from a linguistic perspective, paying particular attention to the constitutive role of spatial mobility in narrative and its role in the construction of queer migrant identities. The chapter begins by looking at the way in which queer migration has been discussed in the literature and then moves on to address three different types of queer migration in greater depth: migration within national borders from the village/countryside to the city; migration between cities in member states within the context of the European Union; and finally, asylum-seeking within the context of migration from the Global South to the Global North. The chapter concludes by suggesting that queer migration is a complex phenomenon in which the intersection of sexuality, gender identity, desire, affect, abjection, economic necessity, class, politics, and fear for one’s life combine in ways that are unique in the lives of individual migrants.

scholarly journals Providers and Practices: How Suppliers Shape Car-Sharing Practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1764
Author(s):  
Elisabeth M. C. Svennevik
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Car Sharing ◽  
Critical View ◽  
Service Companies ◽  
Car Rental ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Established Firms

Social practice theories can be useful for studying changes in mobility systems as regards automobility practices. However, many studies address the demand side and the user practices of consumers, without examining the supplier side. This Norwegian study focuses on the role of providers in car-sharing practices, using data from household interviews with car-sharing users, stakeholder workshops, and interviews with providers of car-sharing services. How are car-sharing providers shaping car-sharing practices, and with what implications? How do business models and platform technologies affect car-sharing practices? The results show how new car-sharing service companies, in addition to established firms such as car dealers and car rental companies, affect car-sharing practices by offering several alternatives for accessing cars. The implications of this are discussed, noting how car-sharing practices are shaped by car-sharing providers in the recursive relationship between practice-as-entity and practice-as-performance. The conclusions offer a critical view of how the providers contribute to various kinds of car-sharing understandings, as well as the implications for policy and practitioners.

scholarly journals Key Influencers in Public Diplomacy 2.0: A Country-Based Social Network Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630512098105
Author(s):  
Diana Ingenhoff ◽  
Giada Calamai ◽  
Efe Sevin
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Centrality Measures ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Step Flow ◽  
Twitter Users

This article presents a study of Twitter-based communication in order to identify key influencers and to assess the role of their communication in shaping country images. The analysis is based on a 2-month dataset comprised of all tweets including hashtags of the three countries selected for this study: Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Following a two-step flow model of communication, we initially identified the influential Twitter users in all three countries based on their centrality measures. Subsequently, we carried out a qualitative content analysis of tweets posted by these influential users. Finally, we assessed the similarities and differences across the three country cases. This article offers new insights into public diplomacy 2.0 activities by discussing influence within the context of country images and demonstrating how opinion leaders can play a more dominant role than states or other political actors in creating and disseminating content related to country image. The findings also provide practical insights in the production of a country’s image and its representation on new media platforms.

Capitalists against financialization: The battle over German pension funds

2021 ◽  
pp. 102452942199300
Author(s):  
Nils Röper
Keyword(s):  
Pension Funds ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Investment Companies ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
Old Age Provision ◽  
Political Battle ◽  
The Welfare State

Despite renewed interest in the role of business in shaping the welfare state, we still know little about how factions of capital adapt their strategies and translate these into political infighting and coalition building. Based on a detailed process tracing analysis of the political battle over German pension funds, this paper shows that cleavages within business do not necessarily run along the lines of finance vs. non-finance. While ‘financial challengers’ (banks and investment companies) advocated financialized pension funds, ‘financial incumbents’ (insurers) defended a conservative understanding of old age provision. Tremendous political momentum towards financialization notwithstanding, challengers remained largely unsuccessful. Incumbents elicited support from the wider business community by adjusting their strategic goals and engaging in discursive reformulations to effectively fight pension financialization from within capital. To accommodate such competition politics and coalition building, the paper argues for a more dynamic understanding of business strategizing and highlights the importance of discursive political strategies. It shows that some capitalists may act as antagonists of elements of financialization and problematizes the actual mechanisms of coalition building through which business plurality affects political outcomes.

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