213 research outputs found

    Brokering Governance? A Political Ethnography of the UN Tenure Guidelines in Struggles for Access to Land, Fisheries and Forests in Nepal

    Get PDF
    This thesis examines the brokerage of rights-based governance, and the role of intermediary organisations therein; a key yet neglected issue in the global food and agricultural governance literature. Governance brokerage encompasses overlapping forms of mediation: brokers translate rights and development projects, across a continuum of state-society and global-local relations. The thesis assesses how civil society actors employ the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (2012) in their struggles in Nepal. The context is Nepal's 2015 Constitution, and the newly enshrined rights to food and to food sovereignty.Through a multi-sited political ethnography, I interrogate how the Tenure Guidelines were introduced into Nepal, and I observe how these spaces of policy dialogue are adapted and operationalised by three organisations, affiliated to different transnational advocacy networks. I locate state and non-state actors' uneven mediation practices at the interstices of national efforts toward inclusive deliberative spaces. I assess the extent to which they employ the Tenure Guidelines to amend and draft laws with participation of affected peoples. I analyse how the focus on law reform and multi-stakeholderism condition this process of adaptation. Based on empirically grounded research, substantiated by historical and sociopolitical analysis, I show that governance brokers play critical functions in connecting grassroots struggles to decision-makers. Yet their role as well-placed connectors isreinforced by the project-based approach to governance, in an unstable grey area of statecivil society and global-local intermediation. Beyond policy dialogue, I conclude that to bring social forces together to use human rights-based instruments as a tool in grassroots struggles, deliberative spaces need to equally be created or adapted by local activist networks, closer to the conflicts themselves

    Multi-level governance approach in the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR): the analysis of the contribution of national stakeholders

    Get PDF
    The purpose of the thesis is to find out the contribution of national stakeholders in the decision-making process of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR). Alongside other macro-regional strategies, EUSAIR is the recent strategy of the European Union which is characterized by multi-level governance, considering that the decision-making process involves different stakeholders from different level and sector. The literature argues that the supranational institutions are taking a central part in the decision-making of EUSAIR, due to funding resources, however, the literature also confirms that the role of the national stakeholders is considered influential as well. Even though the macro-regional cooperation is characterized by multi-level governance, which is involving different level actors in the process, the thesis debates that the national stakeholders are taking the essential part in the decision-making of EUSAIR through bargaining among national governments and further including more stakeholders from the NGOs and local society into taking an active role in the EUSAIR decision-making.O objetivo da dissertação é descobrir a contribuição das atores nacionais no processo de tomada de decisão da Estratégia da UE para a Região Adriática e Jônica (EUSAIR). Juntamente com outras estratégias macrorregionais, a EUSAIR é a estratégia recente da União Europeia, caracterizada pela governança em vários níveis, considerando que o processo de tomada de decisão envolve diferentes partes interessadas de diferentes níveis e setores. A literatura argumenta que as instituições supranacionais estão tendo um papel central na tomada de decisão da EUSAIR, devido ao financiamento de recursos, no entanto, a literatura também confirma que o papel das atores nacionais também é considerado influente. Embora a cooperação macrorregional seja caracterizada por governança multinível, que envolve diferentes atores de nível no processo, a dissertação debate que as atores nacionais estão assumindo o papel essencial na tomada de decisões da EUSAIR por meio de negociações entre governos nacionais e incluindo ainda mais atores das ONGs e da sociedade local na participação ativa no processo de tomada de decisão da EUSAIR

    Finding a Formula for Brazil: Representation and Legitimacy in Internet Governance

    Get PDF
    In the summer of 2013, Edward Snowden’s extraordinary leaks about U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance destabilized the foundations of international Internet governance. Speaking at the UN General Assembly on September 24, 2013, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff denounced NSA spying in the strongest terms, and, together with ICANN, started planning conference in Sao Paulo in April 2014 to reinvent Internet governance. This article analyses these events and tries to make sense of what they might mean for the future of global Internet governance. It begins by looking at how the Brazil-ICANN initiative alters the political alignment of actors in the world. Second, it places these developments into a longer historical context, showing how it echoes recurring attempts to develop legitimacy and principles for Internet governance. Third, it applies critical political analysis to the process of organizing and managing the summit itself, with a particular focus on legitimacy and representation. After exploring these arrangements, the paper makes prognoses about impacts and outcomes of the meeting in Brazil. The working paper is not just meant for the usual Internet policy crowd. It will attempt to use language that can be understood by communities not immersed in these issues. Academics who study related issues but not Internet governance, as well as NGOs, business-people and government officials confused by the often-obscure debates around Internet governance will hopefully find this article a starting point for future engagement

    The role of non-state actors in regime formation: Case study on Internet governance.

    Get PDF
    Many scholars argue that the Internet is a symbol of globalization and avoidance of state control. The Internet governance negotiations, which aims to establish an international regime for the Internet, is conducted through a multi-stakeholder setting associated with extensive involvement of non-state actors. This has been viewed as an indicator for a \u27diminishing state role\u27 in international relations; particularly, formation of international regimes. This study indicates that the role of states does not diminish in regime formation. States, especially great powers, are the main actors that set international principles, norms, rules and decision-making procedures. They create regimes in order to regulate international behavior as to global sectors, including the Internet. States deliberately enable certain non-state actors to participate in regime formation and governance of some global sectors, based on conscious perception of the utility and usefulness of such participation

    At the margins of internet governance: grassroots tech groups and communication policy

    Get PDF
    This article examines grassroots tech groups as civil society media (CSM) actors marginalised in the communications policy debate. We aim to insert these key providers of information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure into discussions on enabling CSM policy agendas. The article maps their policy objectives, traces their connections to broader Internet governance mechanisms and explores their potential roles as policy stakeholders. We conclude that grassroots tech groups, while operating largely outside of the debate, offer unique perspectives and contributions to multi-stakeholder policy dialogue, challenging norms of inclusion and representation
    corecore