World Society on the Ground: Environmental NGOs in Chile, Finland, India, Kenya, and Taiwan

• In Event: 188 - Regular Session. Transnational Processes

Abstract

World society is often described as a set of international norms and pressures that generate superficial conformity among states. However, globally institutionalized cultural and organizational forms may interpenetrate societies. This paper draws on systematic interviews of environmental NGOs in five countries to shed light on the spread of a particular global organizational form, and to unpack some of the mechanisms involved. We find evidence of elaborate local structuration that is connected in multiplex ways to world society. Global models and organizational templates are assembled into concrete organizations by people that are embedded in a local context but often have international ties and support. Interviews highlight the importance of international organizations and resources, but also professionalized authority, expert knowledge, and universities. Local organizations participate in the global field to various degrees, establishing lateral ties and sometimes actively importing organizational models and strategies. Global culture is not merely an exogenous pressure on national-states; it is intertwined with local activities “on the ground”, and the basis for lateral connections and relations befitting the label world society.

Authors

• Evan Schofer, University of California, Irvine

• Cheng Tong Lir Wang, University of California, Irvine

• Rodolfo Antonio Lopez

• Laura Valkeasuo, University of Tampere Finland

• Tuomas Yla-Anttila, University of Helsinki

• Christopher Todd Beer, Lake Forest College