Abstract
Can civic organizations be both locally rooted and globally connected? Based on a survey of 1,002 of the largest civic organizations in Hungary, we conclude that there is not a forced choice between foreign ties and domestic integration. By studying variation in types of foreign interactions and variation in types of domestic integration, our analysis goes beyond notions of footloose experts versus rooted cosmopolitans. Organizations differ in their rootedness according to whether they have ties to their members and constituents, whether they have ties to other organizations in the civic sector, and whether they associate with actors from outside the civic sector. Similarly, we specify different types of foreign ties. In both domains our emphasis is on the type of action involved in the tie–especially relations of accountability and partnership. By demonstrating a systematic relationship between the patterns of foreign ties and the patterns of domestic integration, we chart three emerging forms of transnational publics.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander, J. C. (2001). Theorizing the modes of incorporation: Assimilation, hyphenation, and multiculturalism as varieties of civil participation. Sociological Theory, 19, 237–249.
Anheier, H. Glasius, M., & Kaldor M. (2001) (Eds.), Global civil society yearbook 2001. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bach, J., & Stark, D. (2002). Innovative ambiguities: NGOs use of interactive technology in Eastern Europe. Studies in Comparative International Development, 37(2), 3–23.
Bach, J., & Stark, D. (2004). Link, search, interact: The co-evolution of NGOs and interactive technologies. Theory, Culture and Society, 21(3)101–117.
Bair, J., & Gereffi, G. (2003). Upgrading, uneven development, and jobs in the North American apparel industry. Global Networks, 3, 143–169.
Bermeo, N. (2000). Civil society after democracy: Some conclusions. In N. Bermeo & P. Nord (Eds.), Civil society before democracy. Lessons from nineteenth-century Europe (237–260). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
Bob, C. (2002). Merchants of morality. Foreign policy. March/April. 36–45.
Bob, C. (2005). The marketing of rebellion: Insurgents, media, and international activism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bruszt, L., & Stark, D. (2003). Who counts?: Supranational norms and societal needs. East European Politics and Societies, 17, 74–82.
Bruszt, L., & Vedres, B. (2006). The politics of civic combinations. In V. Perez Diaz (Ed.), Markets and civil society. New York: Berghahn Books (in press).
Burawoy, M., Blum, J. A., George, S., Gille, Z., Gowan, T., Haney, L., et al. (2000). Global ethnography forces, connections, and imaginations in a postmodern world. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Chilton, P. (1995). Mechanics of change: Social movements, transnational coalitions, and the transformation process in Eastern Europe. In T. Risse-Kappen (Ed.), Bringing transnational relations back in (189–226). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Curtis, J. E., Grabb, E. G., & Baer, D. E. (1992). Voluntary association membership in fifteen countries: A comparative analysis. American Sociological Review, 57, 139–52.
della Porta, D., & Tarrow, S. G. (2005). Transnational protest and global activism. Rowman & Littlefield.
Dewey, J. (1954). The public and its problems. Chicago: Swallow Press.
Diani, M. (2001). Social movement networks–virtual and real. In F. Webster (Ed.), Culture and politics in the information age: A new politics? (117–28). London and New York: Routledge.
Diani, M., & McAdam, D. (2003) (Eds.), Social movements and networks. Relational approaches to collective action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ekiert, G. (1991). Democratization processes in East Central Europe: A theoretical reconsideration. British Journal of Political Science, 21(3), 285–313.
Ekiert, G., & Kubik, J. (1998). Contentious politics in new democracies: East Germany, Poland, and Slovakia, 1989–1993. World Politics, 50(4), 547–581.
Ekiert, G., & Kubik, J. (2001). Rebellious civil society: Popular protest and democratic consolidation in Poland, 1989-1993. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Emirbayer, M., & Sheller, M. (1998). Publics in history. Theory and Society, 27, 727–779.
Evans, P. (2000) (Ed.), Fighting marginalization with transnational networks: Counter-hegemonic mobilization. Contemporary Sociology, 29(1), 230–241.
Gereffi, G. (2004). The global economy: Organization, governance, and development. In N. Smelser & R. Swedberg (Eds.), Handbook of economic sociology (160–83). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Gereffi, G., & Fonda, S. (1992). Regional paths to development. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 419–448.
Girard, M., & Stark, D. (2006). Socio-technical assemblies: Sense-making and demonstration in rebuilding lower Manhattan. In V. Mayer-Schoenberger & D. Laser (Eds.), E-Government: New technologies for democracy. Oxford University Press.
Green, A. T. (2002). Comparative development of post-communist civil societies. Europe-Asia Studies, 54(3), 455–471.
Greskovits, B. (2002). Sectors, states and post socialist development paths. Budapest: Central European University, manuscript.
Greskovits, B., & Bohle, D. (2001). Development paths on Europes’ periphery: Hungary’s and Poland’s return to Europe compared. Polish Sociological Review, 1, 3–28.
Hanley, S. (1999). Civil society: An idea whose time has gone? Central European Review, no. 21: 1999.
Hicks, B., & Carmin, J. A. (2000). Finding the social in movements: International triggering events, transnational networks and environmentalism in postcommunist central Europe, paper presented at the International Society for Third Sector Research Fourth International Conference, Dublin, Ireland manuscript.
Howard, M. M. (2003). The weakness of civil society in post-communist Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Illner, M. (1998). Local democratization in the Czech Republic After 1989. In D. Rueschemeyer, M. Rueschemeyer, & B. Wittrock (Eds.), Participation and democracy: East and west (51–82). New York: M. E. Sharpe.
Keck, M., & Sikkink, K. (1998). Activists beyond borders: Advocacy networks in international politics. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
Kennedy, M. D. (1992). The intelligentsia in the constitution of civil societies and post-communist regimes in Hungary and Poland. Theory and Society, 21(1), 29–76.
Kocka, J. (2004). Civil society from historical perspective. European Review, 12, 65–79.
Kubik, J., & Ekiert, G. (2000). Civil society and democratization in Poland. Forms of organization and types of foreign assistance. In G. Mangott, H. Waldrauch, & S. Day (Eds.), Democratic consolidation: The international dimension: Hungary, Poland, and Spain (257–92). Baden-Baden: Nomos.
Letki, N. (2003). Explaining political participation in East-Central Europe: The role of social capital. Studies in public policy, number 381. Glasgow: University of Strathclyde.
Mason, D. S. (1989). Solidarity as a new social movement. Political Science Quarterly, 104(1), 41–58.
Mendelson, S. E., & Glenn, J. K. (2002) (Eds.). The power and limits of NGOs: A critical look at building democracy in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. New York: Columbia University Press.
Miller, A. H., Hesli, V. L., & Reisinger, W. M. (1997). Conceptions of democracy among mass and elite in post-Soviet States. British Journal of Political Science, 27(2), 157–190.
Miszlivetz, F., & Jensen, J. (1998). An emerging paradox: Civil society from above? In D. Rueschemeyer, M. Rueschemeyer, & B. Wittrock (Eds.), Participation and democracy: East and West (83–98). New York: M. E. Sharpe.
Nelson, D. N. (1996). Civil society endangered. Social Research, 63(2), 345–368.
Orenstein, M. A., & Schmitz, H. P. (2006). The new transnationalism and comparative politics. Comparative Politics, 38(4), July.
O’ Riain, S. (2000). The flexible developmental state: Globalization, information technology, and the ‘Celtic Tiger’. Politics and Society, 28(2), 157–193.
Ost, D. (2005). The defeat of solidarity: Anger and politics in postcommunist Europe. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
Palma, G. D. (1991). Legitimation from the top to civil society. World Politics, 44, 49–80.
Petrova, T., & Tarrow, S. (2005). Transactional and participatory activism: Domestic and transnational mobilization in the emerging European polity. Capstone conference of the Cornell/CEU Mellon–Sawyer group on a transnational and transcultural Europe. Budapest, June.
Putnam, R. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Putnam, R. (2002). Democracies in flux: The evolution of social capital in contemporary society. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
Quigley, K. (1997). For democracy’s sake: Foundations and democracy assistance in Central Europe. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center.
Reisinger, W. M., Miller, A. H., & Hesli, V. L. (1995). Political norms in rural Russia: evidence from public attitudes. Europe-Asia Studies, 47(6), 1025–1042.
Rucht, D. (1999). The transnationalization of social movements–trends, causes problems. In D. della Porta, H. Kriesi, & D. Rucht (Eds.), Social movements in a globalizing world (206–223). New York: St. Martin’s.
Sabel, C. (1993). Studied trust: building new forms of cooperation in a volatile economy. Human Relations, 46(9), 1133–1170.
Sabel, C. (1994). Learning by monitoring: The institutions of economic development. In N. Smelser & R. Swedberg (Eds.), Handbook of economic sociology (137–165). Princeton: Princeton University Press and Russell Sage Foundation.
Sabel, C. (1996). Ireland: Local partnerships and social innovation. OECD.
Siegel, D., & Yancey, J. (1992). The rebirth of civil society. The development of the nonprofit sector in East Central Europe and the role of western assistance. New York: The Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Shalini, R. (2003). Footloose experts vs. rooted cosmopolitans: Biodiversity conservation, transnationalisation of law and conflict among civil society actors in India. Tsantsa 2003.
Skocpol, T. (1999). Advocates without members: The recent transformation of American civil life. In T. Skocpol & F. P. Morris (Eds.), Civic engagement in American democracy (461–509). Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.
Skocpol, T. (2003). Diminished democracy: From membership to management in American civic life. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.
Smith, J. (2004). Exploring connections between global integration and political mobilization. Journal of World Systems Research. 255–285.
Smith, J. (2005). Globalization and transnational social movement organizations. In G. Davis, D. McAdam, W. R. Scott, & M. N. Zald (Eds.), Social movements and organization theory (226–248). Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Smith, J., & Wiest, D. (2005). The uneven geography of global civil society: Explaining participation in transnational social movement organizations. Social Forces, 84(2), 621–652, (December).
Stallings, B. (1990) The role of foreign capital in economic development. In G. Gereffi & D. Wyman (Eds.), Manufacturing miracles: Paths of industrialization in Latin America and East Asia (55–89). Princeton N. J.: Princeton University Press.
Stark, D. (1996). Recombinant property in East European capitalism. American Journal of Sociology, 101(4), 993–1027, (January).
Stark, D., & Bruszt, L. (1998). Postsocialist pathways: Transforming politics and property in East Central Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stark, D., & Vedres, B. (2006). Social times of network spaces: Network sequences and foreign investment in Hungary. American Journal of Sociology, 111(5), 1368–1411, (March).
Streeck, W. (1995). Neo-voluntarism: A new European social policy regime? European Law Journal, 1(1), 31–59.
Streeck, W., & Schmitter, P. C. (1985). Community, market, state - and associations? The prospective contribution of interest governance to social order. In Streeck & Schmitter (Eds.), Private interest government. Beyond market and state (1–29). Sage Publications.
Szalai, J. (2002). From opposition in private to engagement in public: Motives for citizen participation in the post-1989 new democracies of Central Europe. Social Research, 69(1), 71–82.
Tarrow, S. (1998). Power in movement: Social movements and contentious politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tarrow, S. (2001). Transnational politics: Contention and institutions in international politics. Annual Review of Political Science 4, 1–20.
Tarrow, S. (2005). The new transnational activism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tismaneanu, V. (2001). Civil society, pluralism, and the future of East and Central Europe. Social Research, 68(4), 977–91.
United Nations Development Programme (2002). Human development report. New York: Oxford University Press.
Vedres, B., Bruszt, L., & Stark, D. (2004). Organizing technologies: Genre forms of online civic association in Eastern Europe. In E. Klinenberg (Ed.), Annals of the american academy of political and social science (171–188).
Ward, J. H. Jr. (1963). Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function. 58, 236–44.
Weigle, M. A., & Butterfield, J. (1992). Civil society in reforming communist regimes: The logic of emergence. Comparative Politics, 25(1), 1–23.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stark, D., Vedres, B. & Bruszt, L. Rooted transnational publics: Integrating foreign ties and civic activism. Theor Soc 35, 323–349 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-006-9007-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-006-9007-8