Confronting Capital: The Limits of Transnational Activism and Human Rights-based CSR Initiatives

• 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

Sociological scholarship on transnational activism suggests that domestic actors in the global South are weak, have less resources, and their actions are constrained by the lack of congenial political opportunity structures. They, therefore, seek help of northern advocacy groups to form collaborative network and organize campaign at transnational level to exert pressure on states in the global South. This dominant perspective, I suggest, cannot fully explain transnational activism, which is not based on a collaboration between nongovernmental organizations. This paper aims to contribute to this literature by analyzing the transnational campaign against a British mining company in Bangladesh. I argue that powerful actors in the global South take the advantage of collaboration with northern advocacy groups without losing its autonomy, power and authority. Contrary to the dominant narrative, they do not fully rely on the efforts of northern advocacy groups and abandon activism within the boundary of the nation-state. They are also capable of avoiding conflict and tension by adopting certain principles to form a convenient alliance with northern advocacy groups. These principles are derived from their political orientations to comprehend contemporary neoliberal global capitalism. This analysis suggests that the political character of activism and the ideology of its protagonists influence the nature of collaboration between southern and northern actors. Moreover, it highlights that activism organized by politically grounded social movement organizations takes a different path compared to activism organized by nongovernmental organizations in the global South.

Author

• M. Omar Faruque, University of Toronto