43rd Linz Conference (September 13-16th, 2007)
Transnational Networks of Labour
"Transnational networks" are currently an important
topic of globalisation studies. They are analysed as a main vector of the
globalisation of knowledge, norms, attitudes, cultural practices and lifestyles.
Eventually, current global development in economy, society and politics
bring this topic into the focus of research. Thus, analysts of those evolutions
which we characterise as "globalisation" have brought fluctuating
networks as form of organisation of a dynamic "space of flows"
(Manuel Castells) into discussion.
Research on transnational networks is a necessarily transdisciplinary enterprise.
A sociological and historical approach can be integrated with a perspective
both from the viewpoint of economic and political science and from the viewpoint
of globalisation studies.
Networks are more informal, more fluid, less consolidated than organisations.
In times of expansion of a deregulated global economy, non-governmental
organisations prosper. Transnational networks communicate with this world
of non-governmental organisations, but they are not identical with them.
Structured organisations may function as visible nodal points of informal
networks. The examination of networks focuses our view on interactions between
structures (organisations) and individuals under the condition of spatial
distance. It is therefore not surprising that the concept of "networks"
has become topical in the debates on "globalisation", where "de-spatialisation",
transcending of borders and world-wide networking operate.
The concept "transnational", as distinguished from the notions
"international", "multinational" or "cosmopolitan",
aims to express a new quality of entanglement engendering global networks
and organisations which transcend the space of the nation state. Such networks
and organisations cannot usefully be analyzed in the framework of nation
states, because they are situated beyond such borders.
There is an opportunity here to draw
the attention to a Labour movement which has, in its international and global
aspirations, developed trans-national forms of networks and organizations,
even if many remain at an "inter-national" level based essentially
on the nation state. This contribution of the Labour movement to the history
of "globalisation" has been largely overlooked. The Labour movement
is not often associated with qualities like "transnational" and
with "network" forms of organisation because it is predominantly
associated with the nation state, within the framework of which it rose
to influence in Europe. The nation state, in its contemporary form of welfare
state, contains Labour as well as Capital within its borders. Networks are
flourishing in "civil society" that keep the influence of the
state out, as much as possible, and where the role of the world of Labour
is marginal. "Transnational networks" are situated beyond the
aegis of the nation state. But this is just one side of the history of Labour.
On the other side, as mentioned, we find its forms of co-operation transcending
the nation state.
It is an aim of the conference to focus the attention on such forms of transnational
networks in the history of Labour, as actors in the history of "globalisation".
Which forms of transnational networks emerged, and what was their contribution
to the world-wide spread ("globalisation") of political attitudes,
practices, lifestyles, forms of action and ways of thinking? Which epistemic
networks emerged? On a micro level, the ITH itself may be analysed as an
epistemic network uniting persons and institutes of similar thematic orientations.
How did communication in those transnational networks function? Which forms
of links between individuals and organisations? More generally, which distinctive
marks of transnational networks of Labour can be observed?
Networks may be constituted by the circulation of people and networks may
be constituted by the circulation of ideas, concepts, beliefs, attitudes,
without the necessity that the people who make them circulate, move themselves
in space. This simple distinction may serve to establish a basic structure
of the conference. Networks that move people or, the other way round, come
into being by the circulation of people, shall be distinguished from networks
that move ideas, concepts, beliefs, attitudes, or come into being by the
circulation of such ideas, concepts, beliefs and attitudes.
An alternative structuring could follow
a differentiation of cultural spheres and of the distribution of power.
The concept "transnational" should not obscure the fact that that,
in most cases, networks with such a claim can nevertheless be fixed to certain
spaces. Transnational networks also have a centre and a periphery. The rapid
increase of transnationally operating non-state networks and "non-governmental
organisations" corresponds to the "globalisation" of an economy
evading state regulation. The centres of those networks and organisations
operating in a trans-national identity are situated in the centres of global
power, in the centres of the world economy. Values, ideas and practices
spread by them are in principle compatible with values, ideas and practices
in those areas, though they may not (yet) be held by the majority. The analysts
of "transnational" trends, many of them themselves endowed with
a transnational identity, are equally situated there as well as their institutes
and their sponsors. Thus, the history of networks which are radically "alternative"
– because substantially different in culture – is usually written
in a perspective from these centres of global power. The conference will
try to include in its perspective such "radically alternative"
networks whose centres are/were not identical with centres of global power.
One example could be the Communist International and its successor organisations.
A third structuring effort could distinguish types of networks of Labour following their forms of organisation and of action:
• Networks connected with international organisations
of the Labour movement, from loose associations like the 2nd International
to efforts to steer a "World Party" like the Comintern.
• Migration networks of all sorts of temporary and permanent expatriates:
from mobility networks of workers to trans-nationally circulating elites
of the Labour movement. This can be an opportunity to focus on political
migration as a form of network communicating political concepts and lifestyles.
• Advocacy networks emerging from trans-national lobby-groups as advocates
of certain issues.
• Transnational epistemic networks as organizers of knowledge-transfer
networks of researchers, endowments, foundations, think tanks.
• Consultancy networks – Political PR-consultants, spin doctors,
consultants in International Development, experts in global norms and morality
defining and certifying rules of correct conduct, corporate social responsibility,
etc.
• Networks of transnationally conceived social movements like the
"Anti"- or "Alter-Globalisation movement".
The conference program is being worked out by a Steering Committee and shall be published on this site in May 2007.
Coordinator of the committee:
Berthold Unfried (Vienna)
Members of the committee:
Marcel van der Linden (Amsterdam), Jürgen Mittag (Bochum), Michael
Schneider (Bonn)