Transcript World Society Theory - Helsingin yliopisto

The Moderns: A Study on the
Governmentality of World
Society
A Brief Introduction
World Society
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Why is the world looking more and more similar?
Principles of World Society Theory:
 consciousness
of the world as one (stateless) place
 rational organisation of world culture as a framing
assumption
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Cultural/ Environmental constitution of authorised
(en)actors:
 shift
attention away from individual social actors
toward social context in which actors are embedded
Neo-Institutionalism
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Helps in asking questions and explaining patterns not
generally asked or answered by:
functionalism
 coercive, zero-sum power games (world-system)
 scientific realism
 rational-choice actor-centrism
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Emphasises:
de-masking of dominant, taken-for-granted views as cultural
world-wide models
 strong commonalities in international discourses
 disorganisation, contradictions, decoupling
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World Polity
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Tracing and explaining isomorphism in structures
and policies and in shifting trends since 1950s
Patterns of influence and conformity cannot be
explained by zero-sum power or functionalism
Nation-states as ritual enactors
 conformist
decision-makers
 agenda for local action defined and legitimated by
worldwide, culturally rooted models
 propagation in global cultural/ associational processes
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Applications
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Mostly quantitative cross-national comparative
analyses of isomorphism in:
 education
(higher education)
 human rights
 environment and environmental sustainability
 gender equality
 civil society and international NGOs
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Perspective – nothing inevitable or even functionally
defensible
 post-Enlightenment
cultural rootedness
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More on world polity theory
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http://worldpolity.wordpress.com
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But…
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Explaining difference?
 creolisation,
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hybridity, …
Agents and actors?
 Aren’t
there individuals pursuing their interests, only
Babbits, “hypocrite conformists” that enact world
models at the national level?
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Our key research question:
How is isomorphic change brought about in such a
way that banal nationalism is maintained?
 That
is, despite uniformity, the nation is seen a selfevident entity or community minding its own business
Domestication of Transnational Models
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These two phenomena, isomorpic change and banal
nationalism, are intertwined in the process here
called the domestication of transnational models
It entails that a model is brought to a local political
agenda and as a consequence of more or less
intense deliberation and field battle tamed to the
local context
Because of the crucial role of local actors,
domestication often leads into a strengthening
rather than weakening of banal nationalism
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Domestication of Transnational Models
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How transnational models or ideas are
domesticated to local contexts has been addressed
in several research traditions:
 In
case-studies of policy transfer it has been shown that
domestic actors build congruence between exogenous
models and local practices and in which models are reembedded into, and reshaped in, the new context
 In the ‘second wave’ of norm scholarship in international
relations the term norm localization describes a
complex process and outcome by which norm-takers
build congruence between transnational norms and
local beliefs and practices
Domestication of Transnational Models
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 In
’Scandinavian institutionalism’ the concept of
translation has been used to take distance from the
notion of diffusion or transfer and emphasize that when
concepts and conceptions derived from a one social
context are introduced into another, they trigger a shift
in the existing order of interpretation and action in that
context
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We use the concept of domestication as a reference
to such a process
 The
term has been used in antropology, consumption
research, science and technology studies, as well as in
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research on the domestication of foreign
news
Domestication of Transnational Models
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In world polity theory local processes are
downplayed as unimportant or mitigated by talking
about decoupling of principles and actual practices
 (hence
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the talk about ”hypocrite conformists”)
On the other hand the localization of worldwide
models can be celebrated as proof that
globalization does not lead into homogenization
We emphasize that isomorphic development does
occur but the domestication process hides it from
view; does it in such a way that the nationhood
framework persists
Domestication of Transnational Models
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The process of domestication:
The introduction of cross-national information or new
translocal ideas coupled with the (transnational)
cultural framework of competition
1.
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Invoking the national team in competition
The onset of a field battle
2.
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The national cast of actors engaged in power play
The transformation of actors and fields
3.
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Supranational politics with a view on national interests
Nationalization as Naturalization
4.
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Models become emblems of national culture and society
Domestication of Transnational Models
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Important points:
 We
must not conceive of transnational models as whole
systems but rather as an array of translocal ideas
 Any
process of domestication consists of a plethora of
worldwide ideas and principles appealed to by the actors
 Not
only models promoted but also the discourses of
resistance are transnational
 A contradiction between worldwide ideal principles
and eventual practices is not the effect of domestication
 Ideals
and reality are both part of a ”regime of practices”
 E.g. ’individuality’ in early childhood education planning
Domestication of Transnational Models
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 Domestication
is an endless process through which
translocal paths of change constantly converge
A
new idea or fashion is introduced before previous ones
are fully saturated to the local reality
 Social
change as domestication
 Sociologists
tend to conceive of society (a nation-state) as a
systemic whole with its inherent dynamics that lead to
structural transformations
 In reality, paraphrasing Kerstin Sahlin-Andersson, in nationstates problems are constructed through comparing the local
situation with that of other countries
 In that sense social change is the effect of domestication
 Evolutionary theories of change are legimitation strategies
National Reception and Implementation of Transnational
Environmental Regulation
Elina Mikola
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Case: The policy process and media debate concerning the
implementation of the European Emission Trading Scheme
(2002-2008)
Banal nationalism and European environmental governance:
While policy planning and decision making takes
place at supranational level, in national context the
emission trading scheme still is interpreted within a
nationalist framework and intertwined with national
field battles.
The focus of the analysis: Rhetorical strategies used to
conceal controversies e.g between (national) economic and
(global) environmental interest - >use of transnational ideas
of “green growth” and cost-efficient climate policy
Culture of Higher Education Reform in Pakistan
Ali Qadir
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Institutional & thematic contours of “long march of
modernity” in Pakistani higher education reform
 globalism, English language, utilitarianism, Islam
Approach
 anthropology of public policy
 culture and social imaginaries (Charles Taylor)
 Four key reforms (2001•1959•1904•1854)
Tangential modernity
 TN institutionalisation in a context of power
The Role of PISA in Finnish Education Policy
Marjaana Rautalin
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Focus of the PhD Thesis on the uses of the OECD PISA Studies by local
actors in Finland
Why interesting?
The PISA did not include any direct suggestions about how to improve
Finnish education
National actors use and utilize the PISA and the results achieved by Finland
in it to further their political interests
Actors studied so far: Finnish teachers, government officials, and the Finnish
quality media
These actors use the PISA for different purposes
Main finding so far: good results good for those who want to keep things
unchanged but a threat for those who want to have changes. Interpretations
of PISA biased in the sense that these support the political interests of the
interest group in question
Institutionalization of Ethical Policy Advice
Jukka Syväterä
The transnational model domesticated:
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Idea of ’ethical policy advice’
Concept of ’national bioethics committee’
Empirical chapters of PhD Thesis:
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Forming of global bioethics
Introducing the committee model in ethical policy advice to Finland
Ethical expertise of ethics advisory bodies
Turning the model of ethical advice into actual practice
Inter/National Ideas and Agendas of
Health Promotion Policy
Leena Tervonen-Gonçalves
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to study public health policies and their change in Finland and Portugal from
interpretive policy analysis approach (e.g. Yanow, Hajer) paying special
attention to role of international ideas and policies in the formation of national
policy agendas
Local interpretation of global models
Policy strategies and programs as data
from mid 1970 to 2010
Diffusion of ideas and models approached from different perspectives in
individual articles:
1. WHO Health for All-program - policy transfer
2. Health promotion and Churches (Fi, Pt, England) – intertextuality
3. EU’s / WHO’s comparative practices – use and interpretation of these
practices in national agendas – imitation
4. “Domestication of evidence-based health promotion policy”
Isomorphic Change in European Science
Policy and Funding Practices
Laura Valkeasuo
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Dissertation’s thematic focus is on European science policy and research funding practices;
especially on the formation of the European research area and one of its instruments, ERAnets.
Theoretical framework consists of neoinstitutionalism, world culture and world polity theories;
the ways to understand isomorphic change among nations.
Empirical case studies are aimed at e.g. producing knowledge about domestication of
transnational models; local and situational actions as part of transnational isomorphic change.
The first article concentrates on the discourse of knowledge-based economy; how and why it is
used in Finnish ministry documents during the past two decades.
Methodology of the first article consists of rhetorical and discourse analysis, mainly drawing
on lessons by Chaïm Perelman and Maarten A. Hajer.
Object of the article is to produce knowledge on why world cultural models are appealing to
local actors, aiming to make a contribution to the discussion on how one can understand the
diffusion of world cultural models within and among nations.
Following articles will concentrate on for example values and practices of transnational
research coordination and funding in Europe.