Overview of Course Content and Objectives

 Benjamin Barber has used the labels "Jihad" and "McWorld" to describe two sets of forces shaping the structure of international politics in the post-Cold War world. Jihad refers to forces of fragmentation: nationalist, religious, ethnic and protectionist groups who seek greater local autonomy and insulation. McWorld refers to the vision of political and economic elites who favor a top-down version of globalization: international financiers, multinational corporations, global media conglomerates and international bureaucrats. These two groups, Barber maintains, are engaged in an epic struggle over the degree of integration that will characterize world politics and economics in the coming era.

 Yet there is a third set of actors whom Barber neglects: popular organizations who reject both the parochialism of Jihad and the elitist, profit-driven cosmopolitanism of McWorld. Instead, these grassroots globalists seek a new normative order built around principles such as equity, democracy, security, ecological sustainability and the preservation of human dignity. Over recent decades, such groups have constructed increasingly dense and coherent transnational networks of grassroots activists. We refer to these as transnational advocacy networks (TANs). The growth of TANs and their spreading influence allows us to posit a third force in contemporary world politics: grassroots globalism.

 This course will explore the phenomenon of TANs, focusing on the following issues: 1. history and origins, 2. organizational characteristics, 3. strategic goals, 4. tools and routes of influence, 5. determinants of success and failure, 6. future prospects, and 7. implications for understanding the evolving structure of world politics in the post-Cold War era.

 TANs are often organized by issue area. We will examine TAN-driven global campaigns with respect to issues such as: human rights, the global environment, peace and arms control, labor and development, and the status of women. Our chief interest will lie not in the merits of particular policy ideas or proposals, but in the politics of pursuing principled change in world politics. We want to understand both the possibilities and limitations of grassroots globalism. Students will be invited to consider these issues in a critical spirit - alert to both the strengths and weaknesses of grassroots globalism as a route to a better world.

Service Learning:

Each student will volunteer at least 20 hours of time to assist a local organization involved in transnational issues. Following the volunteer experience, each student will submit a "reflection essay." In this essay, you will reflect upon and draw lessons from your service learning experience, making connections, wherever possible, between this experience and the issues raised in the course through readings and discussion. Among the organizations that have so far agreed to accept volunteers are:

Iowa Council for International Understanding
American Friends Service Committee
Catholic Peace Ministry
Iowa Division of the United Nations Association
Sister States Commission
Planned Parenthood
Iowa Peace Network

Work Group Projects

 Students will be organized into workgroups corresponding to various types of TANs. These workgroups will jointly carry out three assignments:

1. Conduct a case study on a particular transnational campaign (see assigned topics below).  Your case study should examine the goals, tactics and outcome of the campaign. Particular attention should be given to the organization of the relevant transnational activist network and how it responded to both internal and external challenges.  The case study will be submitted in written form and also presented in class.
2. Prepare an organizational profile of one transnational social movement organization working in the specified issue area.  It will be up to each group to decide which organization will be chosen for study. The organizational profile should address: size, issue scope, geographic reach, funding, goals and purposes, tactics, history, relationship to other groups, common problems, etc. The organizational profile will be submitted in written form and also presented in class.
3. Plan and implement an advocacy campaign on a specific problem related to a particular issue area. Each group will conduct an advocacy campaign on an issue selected by the group. Students will prepare an oral presentation on their experiences with the advocacy campaign for delivery at the Grassroots Globalism conference on December 4. Also, each group will submit a portfolio documenting the activities carried out in connection with that group's advocacy project. Activities might include:

- Write an op-ed page piece and submit to hometown newspaper.
- Develop an educational and advocacy website on your issue.
- Organize letter-writing campaign to political or corporate officials.
- Organize a petition drive.
- Set up an information table in Olmsted or the dorms.
- Conduct a public demonstration (e.g., candlelight vigil, guerrilla theater, march, etc.)
- Prepare leaflets for distribution around campus and/or community.
- Advocate a consumer boycott of certain products or companies.
- Raise funds for an organization working on your issue.

Work Group Issue Areas and Case Study Topics:

Human Rights Group: Campaign for creation of an International Criminal Court.

Environment Group: Campaign to protect tropical forests.

Peace Group: Campaigns to abolish landmines and trade in small arms.

Development Group: Development of micro-credit movement.

Labor Group: Campaign to end child and sweatshop labor.

Conference on Grassroots Globalism:

On December 4, we will host a conference on Grassroots Globalism at Drake University (St. Catherine's). The purpose of the conference will be to promote cooperation among grassroots organizations in the Central Iowa area and to draw practical lessons from experience. The morning session of this all-day conference will focus on strategies for connecting the local with the global. Representatives from many Iowa NGOs will be invited to participate. A panel of local speakers will offer ideas for subsequent discussion. Over the noon hour, participants will enjoy a catered lunch and hear from our keynote speaker - Assistant Professor Jackie Smith from SUNY-Stoneybrooke. The afternoon session will be devoted to student presentations. The five working groups from the class will discuss their experiences and lessons learned from the semester-long advocacy campaigns. This portion of the program will be open to the Drake and Des Moines communities.

Exams and Grading:

This class will include a mid-term and a final exam, both in-class. The exams will cover material from readings and class discussion.

Course grades will be determined as follows:

Exams (15% each):    30%
Group Projects:     50%
Reflection Essays:    10%
Class Participation:    10%

Each work group will receive a single grade applying to all three group projects (i.e., case study, organizational profile and advocacy project). Individual grades may, however, vary from the group grade. Members of each group will grade other members of their group based upon each individual's relative contribution to the work of the entire group. The instructor will average the peer grades for each group member. Individual grades will be based upon combination of the peer grade average (40%) and the overall group grade given by the instructor (60%).

Required Books:

 Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Cornell University Press, 1998.

Jackie Smith, Charles Chatfield and Ron Pagnucco, Transnational Social Movements and Global Politics, Syracuse University Press, 1997.
 

Reading and Activities Schedule

8/24: Introduction to course.

8/26: Organize work groups.

8/31: The Growth of Non-state Actors in World Politics

Jessica Matthews, "Power Shift," Foreign Affairs, January/February, 1997

Louis Kriesburg, "Social Movements and Global Transformation" (TSM reader)

9/2: Guest speaker

9/7: Contemporary Transnationalism

Jackie Smith, Characteristics of the Modern Transnational Social Movement Sector," (TSM reader)

9/9: Theoretical Perspectives

Jackie Smith, Ron Pagnucco and Charles Chatfield, "Social Movements and World Politics: A Theoretical Framework" (TSM reader)

Keck and Sikkink, ch. 1

9/14: Historical Perspectives

Charles Chatfield, "Intergovernmental and Nongovernmental Associations to 1945" (TSM reader)

Keck and Sikkink, ch. 2

9/16: Work Groups.

9/21 & 9/23: Human Rights

Keck and Sikkink, ch. 3

Michael Hovey, "Interceding at the United Nations: The Human Rights of Conscientious Objection" (TSM reader)

Jackie Smith, Ron Pagaucca, George Lopez, "Globalizing Human Rights: The World of Transnational Human Rights NGOs in the 1990s," Human Rights Quarterly, May, 1998

9/28: Environmental Issues

Keck and Sikkink, ch. 4

Jackie Smith, "Building Political Will After UNCED: EarthAction International" (TSM reader)

Peter Newell, "Environmental NGOs, TNCs, and the Question of Governance"

9/30 & 10/5: Peace

Patrick Coy, "Cooperative Accompaniment and Peace Brigades International in Sri Lanka" (TSM reader)

William Eldridge, "Community and World Harmony: New Citizen Peacemaking Roles for a Changing Global Culture," Peace and Conflict Studies, December, 1994

David Atwood, "Mobilizing Around the United Nations Special Sessions on Disarmament" (TSM reader)

David Corwright and Ron Pagnucco, "Limits to Transnationalism: The 1980s Freeze Campaign" (TSM reader)

Richard Price, "Reversing the Gun Sights: Transnational Civil Society Targets Land Mines," International Organization, Summer, 1998

10/7: Work Groups.

10/12: Violence against Women

Keck and Sikkink, ch. 5

10/14: Labor

Thalia Kidder and Mary McGinn, "In the Wake of NAFTA: Transnational Worker's Networks," Social Policy, Summer, 1995.

10/21: NGOs and the United Nations

Ann Marie Clark, Elisabeth Friedman and Kathryn Hockstetler, "The Sovereign Limits of Civil Society: A Comparison of NGO Participation in UN World Conferences on the Environment, Human Rights and Women," World Politics, October, 1998

"The United Nations and Civil Society: The Role of NGOs" Stanley Foundation

10/26: Holding NGOs Accountable

Rajesh Tandon, "Board Games: Governance and Accountability in NGOs" in Beyond the Magic Bullet

Alan Fowler, "Assessing NGO Performance: Difficulties, Dilemmas and a Way Ahead," in Beyond the Magic Bullet

Michael Edwards and David Hulme, "Beyond the Magic Bullet? Lessons and Conclusions" in Beyond the Magic Bullet

10:28: Mid-Term Exam.

11/2, 11/4, 11/9, 11/11: Work groups and/or guest speakers.

11/17, 11/19, 11/23/11/30, 12/2: In-class presentations of case studies and organizational profiles.

December 4: Drake Conference on Grassroots Globalism

12/7 & 12/9: The Dawn of a Global Civil Society?

Keck and Sikkink, ch. 6

John McCarthy, "The Globalization of Social Movement Theory" (TSM reader)

Chadwick Alger, "TSMs, World Politics and Global Governance" (TSM reader)
 

Final Exam: Monday, December 13, 7:30-9:20am