Europe meets Asia: The transnational construction of access and voice from below
This paper contributes to the debate on the role of democratic participation in complex systems of governance. It takes a process-oriented constructivist approach asking how transnational activism over time contributes to the construction of access and voice from below and uses the Asia-Europe Meetings (ASEM) to analyze how interactions between civil society and global governance institutions shape concrete forms of participation. The paper shows that transnational activism triggers both discursive and institutional changes within the official ASEM process leading to an informal, fragmented, and fragile institutionalization of civil society participation. However, the paper reveals a division between civil society organizations with some, such as business representatives, having preferential access and voice in comparison to more contentious organizations. The paper explains this fragmented form of democratization as the result of three interrelated processes: the particular history and economic origins of the ASEM; international developments particularly in the ongoing economic crisis; and domestic developments within individual countries (in particular China) which have begun to favor controlled access for civil society participation.
Year of publication: |
2014
|
---|---|
Authors: | Zajak, Sabrina |
Institutions: | Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft |
Saved in:
freely available
Extent: | application/pdf |
---|---|
Series: | MPIfG Discussion Paper. - ISSN 1864-4325. |
Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Notes: | Number 14/1 |
Source: |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010984363
Saved in favorites
Similar items by person
-
Pathways of transnational activism: A conceptual framework
Zajak, Sabrina, (2014)
-
Editorial: Soziale Bewegungen und industrielle Beziehungen
Zajak, Sabrina, (2018)
-
Zajak, Sabrina, (2018)
- More ...