The Power of Peers: How Transnational Advocacy Networks Shape NGO Strategies on Climate Change

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 19. Transnational Activism

Abstract

What explains variation in the strategic choices of NGOs? This paper uses network autocorrelation models to establish how the strategies of climate change NGOs are shaped by their embeddedness in transnational advocacy networks. We find that NGOs have a tendency to match the behavior of the organizations that are adjacent in the network – their partners and allies – but not the behavior of their competitors or potential substitutes. We also offer qualitative evidence that NGOs are affected by relational pressure from their peers, altering their perception of costs and benefits. These findings enhance our understanding of how networks influence the behavior of actors, as well as offering insight into the social processes that generate protest and contestation in global politics.

Authors

• Jennifer Hadden

• Lorien Jasny, University of Exeter