Suchergebnisse

An insight into a lively field of international human rights politics ₆ the protection of children and their rights ₆ focusing on the negotiations leading to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Anna Holzscheiter uses a critical discourse-analytical framework to explore the different dimensions of power and exclusion that had an impact on the final provisions contained in the Convention, dramatically reshaping the identity of the child in international politics. Children were largely seen and treated as innocent, vulnerable and mute objects of adult charity and compassion until well into the second half of the 20th century. However, with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children achieved the status of active rights-holders and subjects under international law. Holzscheiter explores the growing literature on norm change in international relations and sociological studies of negotiations between states and non-state actors, discussing at length the revolutionary contribution of NGOs to the drafting process.

Dass die medizinischen Ressourcen nicht reichen könnten, macht in dieser Krise Angst. Dabei ist die Knappheit die Grundsituation der Gesundheitspolitik.

In my contribution to this collection, I aim to expose how the growing transnationalisation of groups of affected persons – in this case children and young people – has brought to the fore normative contradictions and tensions built into the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. More specifically, I will show how the universal notion of children's rights and a strong global consensus on the 'scourge' of child labour has been challenged through the empowerment of affected persons – in this case child workers. Building on critical constructivist thinking on norms, my core argument is that the increasing access of affected persons' organisations (APOs) to international organisations and high-level events brings with it an increase in norm contestation. Rather than creating new normative contestations, I will show in my analysis, the inclusion of the most affected brings to light normative inconsistencies and ambiguities that have been potentially ingrained in international treaties but hitherto successfully suppressed by powerful norm advocates. The articulation of subversive perspectives on child labour by working children and young people, I will conclude, results in normative tensions and collisions and a reconsideration of seemingly universal values previously taken for granted.

AbstractThis paper discusses competition and cooperation between boundary organizations (BOs) in the field of global health. It embeds its analysis of BOs in health in contemporary theories on institutional fragmentation and governance complexity, arguing that BOs in international politics have been a major driving force behind an often mind‐boggling complexity of actors, institutions, and rule systems relevant to many contemporary international issues or "regimes." The paper argues that growing complexity of global governance structures generates new demands for BOs with regard to how they manage their interactions with other BOs. Accordingly, the framework suggested in this paper builds on a set of hypotheses that do not isolate factors at structural and agent level but rather capture the interplay of BOs and their organizational environment. The paper's empirical analysis investigates two BOs, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, working in the field of polio eradication.

Dieser Forumsbeitrag fragt danach, welche Spuren die sogenannte zib-Debatte zur Übertragbarkeit der Habermas'schen Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns auf die internationalen Beziehungen hinterlassen hat. Auf der Suche danach, was vom arguing übriggeblieben ist, kehrt der Beitrag zu den Ursprüngen der zib-Debatte zurück und diskutiert deren Wirkung auf das Nachdenken über den Zusammenhang zwischen Diskurs, Sein und Sollen in der internationalen Politik, sowohl innerhalb Deutschlands als auch international. Aufbauend auf den theoretischen Vorschlägen der arguing Wissenschaftler*innen argumentiert der Forumsbeitrag schließlich, dass deren Einfluss auf ontologische, epistemologische und methodologische Debatten der Gegenwart erheblich ist. Zugleich plädiert der Beitrag jedoch dafür, den Habermas'schen Diskursbegriff nicht auf konsensorientierte Verständigung einzu- engen, sondern vielmehr sein Potenzial für die Erforschung der produktiven und mühsamen Auseinandersetzung über die die internationale Politik leitenden Normen, Werte und Ziele in Zeiten großer Unsicherheit und großen Umbruchs zu nutzen. ; This contribution considers the legacy of the so-called »zib debate« of the mid-1990s. This debate revolved around the relevance of communicative action and, more specifically, Habermas's theory of communicative action to the study of international relations. Searching for the remains of the notion of arguing, this contribution returns to the origins of the debate and its influence on theories about the relationship between discourse, being and normativity in international politics - both in Germany and internationally. Based on the theoretical propositions of scholars in the tradition of communicative rationality and arguing, the article contends that the »zib debate« had a profound impact on contemporary ontological, epistemological and methodological discussions. At the same time, it recalls the potential of Habermas's discourse theory to capture productive and laborious struggles over norms, values and goals that guide international politics - particularly in times of great uncertainty and transformation.

This paper discusses competition and cooperation between boundary organizations (BOs) in the field of global health. It embeds its analysis of BOs in health in contemporary theories on institutional fragmentation and governance complexity, arguing that BOs in international politics have been a major driving force behind an often mind-boggling complexity of actors, institutions, and rule systems relevant to many contemporary international issues or "regimes." The paper argues that growing complexity of global governance structures generates new demands for BOs with regard to how they manage their interactions with other BOs. Accordingly, the framework suggested in this paper builds on a set of hypotheses that do not isolate factors at structural and agent level but rather capture the interplay of BOs and their organizational environment. The paper's empirical analysis investigates two BOs, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, working in the field of polio eradication.

This article analyses global civil society advocacy in the field of child labour through the lens of theories on political representation in global governance. The article is sympathetic to newer theories on political representation which, fundamentally, understand representation as a dialectic of performative practices between representatives and their real or imagined constituencies. However, the article argues that the contemporary literature on political representation turns a blind eye on two aspects that are central to understanding this dialectic of representation in the child labour case: first, representation as power and second, the contested nature of citizenship. The article thus proposes an approach to political representation that allows highlighting the power-dimension inherent to the interrelation between formal and performative aspects of representation, that is, between civil society actors' power to represent and their power over representation. Using such an approach, the article presents empirical insights on CSO representation in global policymaking on child labour – a field in which conflicts over legitimate representation, citizenship, and grassroots participation continue to be exceptionally fierce. ; Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich. / This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.

This article analyses global civil society advocacy in the field of child labour through the lens of theories on political representation in global governance. The article is sympathetic to newer theories on political representation which, fundamentally, understand representation as a dialectic of performative practices between representatives and their real or imagined constituencies. However, the article argues that the contemporary literature on political representation turns a blind eye on two aspects that are central to understanding this dialectic of representation in the child labour case: first, representation as power and second, the contested nature of citizenship. The article thus proposes an approach to political representation that allows highlighting the power-dimension inherent to the interrelation between formal and performative aspects of representation, that is, between civil society actors' power to represent and their power over representation. Using such an approach, the article presents empirical insights on CSO representation in global policymaking on child labour - a field in which conflicts over legitimate representation, citizenship, and grassroots participation continue to be exceptionally fierce.

AbstractThis article analyses global civil society advocacy in the field of child labour through the lens of theories on political representation in global governance. The article is sympathetic to newer theories on political representation which, fundamentally, understand representation as a dialectic of performative practices between representatives and their real or imagined constituencies. However, the article argues that the contemporary literature on political representation turns a blind eye on two aspects that are central to understanding this dialectic of representation in the child labour case: first, representation as power and second, the contested nature of citizenship. The article thus proposes an approach to political representation that allows highlighting the power-dimension inherent to the interrelation between formal and performative aspects of representation, that is, between civil society actors' power to represent and their power over representation. Using such an approach, the article presents empirical insights on CSO representation in global policymaking on child labour – a field in which conflicts over legitimate representation, citizenship, and grassroots participation continue to be exceptionally fierce.