Transnational Activities of Women-Focused Civil Society Actors in Southern Africa

ISBN-13: 9783031295362 / Angielski

Cecilia Nedziwe; Oluwaseun Tella

Opis

This book engages norms, in general, and how they have proliferated in a neo-liberalising context since the 1990s. It particularly examines norms on gender in terms of agency and influence and their impact which amounts to game-changing. Despite growing transnational activities, regionalisation and the increasing interface between state and non-state regionalism in a transnational context since the advent of liberalisation and democratisation, analyses in regional International Relations (IR) studies, so far, largely maintain a linear logic. The increasing non-state processes, and their connection to state processes in norm creation, norm adaptation, norm diffusion and implementation around broad questions of security including in the area of gender, amount to regional thickening. Regional thickening revealed in terms of increasing regionalisation, regionalism, and region-ness whose effect is game-changing challenges mainstream linear approaches in regional IR studies. Game-changing here, refers to, processes promoting the development of norms in the interest of contributing to improved security across a region. This book focuses on Southern Africa, defined here, as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. This study’s analytical approach is informed by alternatives to mainstream approaches, emphasising processes, rather than linearity inherent in regional IR studies. By privileging the actual game-changing processes, interactions, and agency around the norm development cycle, this book examines how regional thickening in a transnational context promotes game-changing activities, promoting the development of the norm cycle, seeking to have improved security. A mixed method approach involving gathering of information from multiple primary and secondary sources is used. The study reveals that transnational activities and regionalisation of gender and women-focused civil society actors are critical to game-changing. These civil society actors organise in two ways. First, by way of advocacy and in seeking representation within intergovernmental policymaking structures at a regional level.

Spis treści

1. Introduction.- 2. Conceptual clarification and analytical framework.- 3. Non-state actors as Transnational Agents.- 4. The history of game-changing in Southern Africa.- 5. Civil Society Actors and Comparative Region-Building: ECOWAS and EAC.- 6. Regional thickening as game-changing: gender and women civil society actors in Southern Africa.- 7. Stabilisers? Transnational communities in addressing gender insecurity in Southern Africa.- 8. Conclusion.

O autorze

Cecilia Nedziwe is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa. Her research interests centre around international and regional organisations, and on issues of gender, civil society and peacebuilding.

Oluwaseun Tella is Head of the Future of Diplomacy at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for the Future of Knowledge, South Africa. He holds a doctorate in Political Science. His research interests include soft power, foreign policy, Nigeria–South Africa relations, peace and conflict studies, comparative politics, African politics and global politics.

Blurb

This book focuses on southern Africa by engaging with ‘norms’ from various perspectives and how they have proliferated within a neo-liberalising context since the 1990s. It particularly examines gender norms in relation to agency, influence and their impact. Despite growing transnational activities, regional studies analyses have so far maintained a primarily linear logic not incorporative of the increasing interface between state and non-state regionalism in a transnational context since the advent of liberalisation and democratisation. Increasing non-state activities, and their connection to state processes involved in norm creation, adaptation, diffusion and implementation around broad questions of security (including gender security), amount to regional thickening. The book’s analytical approach is informed by alternatives to mainstream approaches, emphasising processes rather than linearity inherent in regional international relations studies. The research reveals that transnational activities and regionalisation of gender and women-focused civil society actors are critical for advocacy and diverse representation within intergovernmental policymaking structures at the regional scale.

Cecilia Nedziwe is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa. Her research interests centre around international and regional organisations, and on issues of gender, civil society and peacebuilding.

Oluwaseun Tella is Head of the Future of Diplomacy at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for the Future of Knowledge, South Africa. He holds a doctorate in Political Science. His research interests include soft power, foreign policy, Nigeria–South Africa relations, peace and conflict studies, comparative politics, African politics and global politics.