Global Networking of NGOs

The typology of nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations (NGOs) classifies them according to their orientations and levels of operations. The type of ties associated with NGOs and related networks are complex and pervasive. To help readers understand the structural features of these networks, several theoretical frameworks and theories (i.e., world system theory, world polity theory, organizational ecology theory, and issue niche theory) are offered as different explanations for the antecedents and consequences of NGO networks.

Rhetorical Framing of Organizational Identity: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Modern World Polity

As multinational corporations (MNCs) have increased their activities associated with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), scholars, analysts, and practitioners have focused on functional and strategic issues in line with profit motivations, questioning whether CSR enhances the corporate bottom-line. However, there is little empirical evidence to date showing any definitive positive relationships between CSR and corporate financial performance. Nonetheless, more and more MNCs are putting significant efforts and resources into CSR practices and are actively participating in global CSR schemes, such as the UN Global Compact. Based on analyses of organizational identity claims and of organizational engagement, this exploratory research suggests that, while not always straightforward and transparent, the growing CSR involvement by MNCs is part and parcel of broader legitimization processes conforming with world polity cultural norms and identities as world polity constituents. Although at times contradictory, CSR itself has been framed in terms of normative value-added activities, along with more rationalist financial goals.

Postcolonial sociology as a remedy for global diffusion theory

The dominant theoretical approaches that aim to explain the origins and subsequent global diffusion of modern norms, practices, and institutions have reached an impasse. World polity theory and ‘coercion’ perspectives describe a process in which norms originate in the Global North and spread to the rest of the world. For the former, diffusion occurs via the willful imitation of shared values; for the latter, it occurs due to economic/political pressure and/or force. However, both approaches are unable to account for norms that emerge in the Global South and get adopted globally. This article argues that postcolonial sociology can help overcome the common pitfalls of the existing theories and provide a theoretical framework for analyzing global diffusion through its analytical focus on subaltern agency, ‘relationalism,’ and colonial contours of power. The utility of postcolonial sociology is demonstrated using archival data and an historical analysis of the 1938 Trade Disputes (Arbitration and Inquiry) Ordinance, which emerged in Trinidad and Tobago and was subsequently adopted by a number of colonies across the British empire.

The Diffusion of International Women’s Rights Norms to Individual Attitudes

Although existing studies of international women’s rights norm diffusion demonstrate the importance of international linkages for fostering change, few examine their influence on individual attitudes. Of those that do, none consider how ties to different world cultural domains—world polity vs. world society—impact this process, despite their divergent roots. Whereas world polity via CEDAW facilitates diffusion by holding states accountable, world society via women’s international NGOs (WINGOs) appeals to citizens by encouraging activism and awareness. Focusing on trends in developing nations, which remain underexamined but theoretically relevant, I assess the unique effect of each on diffusion to attitudes. I further expand the literature to examine the direct and interactive effects of national-level compliance (quotas) on this process. Using a multilevel analysis of World Values Survey data from 31 developing nations, I demonstrate that the duration of CEDAW ratification (world polity) and nationally mandated legislative quotas (national-level compliance) directly facilitate this diffusion, but WINGOs (world society) alone do not. Yet, where quotas exist and global ties are sufficient, WINGOs become significant, and CEDAW’s effectiveness increases. These results suggest that world polity and world society are both salient for diffusion to attitudes but should be considered separately and in conjunction with national-level outcomes that moderate their effects.

Moral Remembrance and New Inequalities

The article traces the emergence of the novel phenomenon known as “moral remembrance” (MR). MR refers to the standardized set of norms, promoted through the human rights infrastructures of world polity, in which societies are supposed to deal with the legacies of mass human rights abuses. This vision has adopted, over the past forty years, the three main principles of “facing the past,” “a duty to remember,” and having a “victim-centered approach.” Following the emergence of MR, I demonstrate what happens when the human rights–sponsored MR clashes with the nation-state-sponsored memorialization agenda and why decoupling from the “victim-centered approach” results, more often than not, in hierarchies of victimhood and, consequently, the production of new societal inequalities. I suggest here that the relationship between MR and the nationalist use of memorialization processes needs to be understood from the perspective of economic corruption, the politics of opportunism, and competing authorities.