Global Society

@globalsociety

Global Society is a journal of international studies published by Taylor & Francis. Editors: Rubrick Biegon, Hendrik Huelss, Anna Nadibaidze, Julia Simon, Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, and Peter Marshall

7.064 Folgt2.202 Follower216 Posts

Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir globalsociety.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Global Society@globalsociety· 7d

The first Global Society monthly pick for August is "Fear of the (Un)known: How to Think About Risk and Threat Cultures in Cyber Conflict" by @monicakello.bsky.social (@warstudieskcl.bsky.social). It's #OpenAccess, so be sure to read it by clicking the link below! 👇

The question of how states make operational decisions in cyber conflict is under-theorised. Much of existing scholarship has answered it within general frameworks of materialist and rationalist theory. Yet, states with similar cyber capabilities and operating in the same environment often display markedly different operational styles. This article argues that accounting for operational variation among states requires greater attention to how risk and threat perception shape operational preferences under uncertainty, particularly when multiple feasible options exist. To this end, the article develops a conceptual framework that distinguishes between a risk society, which tends towards operational restraint and caution rooted in a cultural preoccupation with the reduction of uncertain and diffused security risks, and a threat society, which exhibits operational brazenness owing to a fixation on a perceived existential threat. The article illustrates the framework within two case studies, the United States and Russia.

Global Society@globalsociety· 12d

🚨New #OnlineFirst article out in Global Society! 🚨 "NGO Influence on the World Bank: Principals, Agents, and Quasi-Ultimate Principals" is by Chibuzo Achinivu (@ Williams College). #Agents #NGO #WorldBank Click the link below to give it a read! 👇

There is agreement in the extant literature on international organisations (IOs) that nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) matter in shaping IO behaviour, especially regarding the World Bank’s environmental and human rights practices. However, we know less about the mechanism through which NGOs can influence binding and durable institutional change in the Bank and IOs at large. I use a principal-agent theoretical framework to reconceptualise donor state NGOs as quasi-ultimate principals able to influence the Bank through state authority. Using a qualitative plausibility probe of three episodes of World Bank reform and drawing from US congressional reports and testimonies, official NGO statements, and secondary historical accounts, I trace how NGOs influenced donor state behaviour toward the Bank. I find that NGOs can indirectly influence Bank behaviour by aligning donor state preferences with theirs, leading to formal and informal state pressure on the Bank. These findings have implications for how we understand delegation, compliance, and reform within the Bank and IOs.

Global Society@globalsociety· 14d

The final article in Global Society 40(3) is "State Recognition, Conflict and International Parliaments: The European Parliament and Kosovo" @georgekyris.bsky.social (Birmingham) and Bruno Luciano (UNESP). Click the link below to give it a read! 👇

"States in international relations emerge through diplomatic state recognition, yet when there are rival statehood claims over the same territory, recognition becomes contested and a security concern. International organisations and their parliaments express recognition positions that matter because of their collective nature, but this remains underexplored in predominantly state-centric scholarship. This study addresses that gap by analysing how International Parliamentary Institutions (IPIs) facilitate recognition in statehood conflicts. We propose an analytical framework to capture how IPIs exercise agency through using their own instruments (e.g. resolutions) to express recognition positions, particularly when these diverge from their executive counterparts. Applying this framework, we conduct a historical analysis of the European Parliament’s approach to Kosovo as a case study of IPIs’ significance for recognition, drawing on extensive original and secondary data. Findings show that the activism of parliamentarians and majority decision-making rules enabled a stance in favour of Kosovo’s recognition; that EP support has strengthened over time; and that plenary debates fostered reflection on recognition of Kosovo and beyond. The study highlights the importance of both institutional rules and individual agency, contributing to a deeper understanding of collective recognition by diverse international actors in some of the world’s most complex security environments."

Global Society@globalsociety· 19d

New Article out in Global Society! 🚨 "Anti-Satellite Weapons and Norm Clusters in Space: Dynamics of Contestation, Activation, and Resiliency" is an #OnlineFirst article by Jeffrey S. Lantis (College of Wooster). Click the link below to give it a read! 👇

Modern advances in the development of anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons threaten the safety and sustainability of orbital space operations, and critics charge that government tests of ASAT systems may represent violations of norms embedded in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and follow-on agreements. This study explores how international norm structures for orbital and outer space security offer adaptive mechanisms to respond to applicatory contestation. It develops a multi-stage model of meso-level norm clusters and responses to challenges, including activation, stigmatisation, response, and remediation, and then tests the utility of this model using two case studies of responses to meso-level norm contestation over ASAT weapons. The study concludes that the activation of norm networks appears to provide some level of resiliency for norm structures, allowing them to absorb, diffuse, and even redirect the energy of contestatory challenges toward new norm development for space governance in the 21st century.

Global Society@globalsociety· 21d

The sixth article in Global Society 40(3) is "Anti-gender Normativity and Advocacy in Turkey – Making a Case for Practice Diffusion" by Hüsrev Tabak and Marella Bodur Ün. Click on the link below to give it a read! 👇

This article offers a practice-oriented perspective on the near-simultaneous rise of anti-genderism in the post-2010 context. Using the Turkish case, it argues that normative isomorphism across different locales is not always the result of recent norm diffusion; their simultaneous and isomorphic emergence can be attributed to the diffusion of practices that enact pre-existing normative frameworks. Empirically speaking, this would mean re-reading the rise of anti-genderism as also a process of practice diffusion, no doubt, within the broader context of the growing influence of right-wing populism and illiberalism. The research suggests focusing on the diffusion of practices rather than norms per se, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of global normative similarities and claims of globality.

Global Society@globalsociety· 23d

New Article out in Global Society! 🚨 "After the Patron Falls: Iranian Proxy Networks and Hybrid Threats in the Middle East" is an #OnlineFirst and #OpenAccess article by Martin Solik and Martin Můčka. Click the link below to give it a read! 👇

This article examines the future trajectories of Iranian-linked hybrid threats in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza under a hypothetical scenario involving the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Using mechanism-based process tracing, the study extrapolates empirically observed patterns of proxy behaviour following patron disruption to assess plausible post-collapse outcomes. It develops a structured framework that links proxy autonomy, patronage continuity, and domestic constraints to four distinct trajectories: autonomization, fragmentation, external substitution, and decline. Rather than predicting outcomes, the article identifies the conditions under which each trajectory becomes plausible across different regional contexts. The findings contribute to security studies by offering a systematic approach to forecasting proxy dynamics after regime collapse.

Global Society@globalsociety· 26d

The fifth article in Global Society 40(3) is "Artificial Intelligence and the Algorithmic Discursive Sphere: Policymaking Dilemmas and the Rise of a New Public Intellectual" by Branislav Radeljić (@nebrija.bsky.social). #AI #Power #Democracy Click the link below and give it a read! 👇

ABSTRACT
This paper explores the multifaceted relationship between artificial intelligence (AI), programming languages, and ethical-political structures, emphasising how AI development both reflects and reshapes global power dynamics. When prompted about its participation in political discourse or its potential to function as a public intellectual (a hybrid human–nonhuman actor that redefines the link between technology, politics, and public reason), generative AI often expresses a willingness to engage with complex ideas, while simultaneously acknowledging its limitations in terms of original thought and its inability to advocate for social change. It tends to prioritise neutrality over taking definitive stances, which raises critical concerns. This neutrality may inadvertently contribute to inequality, particularly in the context of the divide between the Global North and the Global South. Moreover, the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China, combined with AI’s growing role in decision-making processes, underscores its potential to privilege certain agendas – often those aimed at power maximisation and wealth accumulation. This paper argues that the promise of AI must be weighed against its risks, especially in high-stakes domains, and that meaningful accountability demands more than ethics-as-branding. By framing AI as a sociotechnical artifact embedded in ideology and power, the study highlights the need for global, pluralistic, and enforceable ethical frameworks in the face of accelerating digital transformation.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jul 13

The third article in Global Society 40(3) is "For a Better Future: How Parenthood Affects Attitudes toward War" by Shih-chan Dai (@ National Chengchi University) and Navida Chun-han Wang (@umich.edu). Click the link below and be sure to give it a read!

ABSTRACT
How does parenthood affect individuals’ attitudes toward war? Existing literature on public support for war offers some explanations as to when the public is more likely to support the use of military force. Yet, it has largely overlooked an essential factor: parenthood. Building on rational choice and social identity theories, we argue that individuals who are parents are less likely to support war. Individuals with children face greater uncertainty and are more vulnerable to the damages that war could bring. In addition, the shift in identity as parents affects how individuals perceive security threats. We test our hypothesis using the World Value Survey Wave 6 (2010-2014). The results show that parenthood decreases the likelihood of expressing support for war, for both females and males, even after controlling for other demographic traits and country-level covariates such as exposure to militarised violence and gender inequality. Our findings contribute to the literature on security studies and public opinion and suggest a need to consider the impact of parenthood.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jul 10

The third article in Global Society 40(3) is "The Ties that Bind?: Affinity and Challenges in Contemporary Brazil-China Relations" by Pedro Abelin and Margaret M. Pearson (both @univofmaryland.bsky.social). Do give it a read! 👇

As China’s diplomatic and economic outreach towards the Global South has expanded in recent decades, so too have its efforts to align with important Global South countries and create movement away from US hegemony. Brazil’s relationship with China is emblematic, as it is a big player in Latin America and in multilateral bodies, and due to its historical relationship with the United States. While theories about China’s rise lead us to expect that relations between China and Global South countries such as Brazil should be positive and straightforward due to economic interests, normative identity, and successful diplomatic outreach, empirical studies yield mixed results, with challenges arising from host state domestic politics. We explore how Brazil’s domestic policy preferences, public opinion, and polarisation shape China’s ability to achieve its diplomatic goals in multilateral (focusing on BRICS) and bilateral (especially agribusiness trade) settings. We find that despite an overall strong relationship, Brazil diverges from China’s policies and preferences in important ways, exposing limits on China’s efforts. In addition to tracing major diplomatic statements, we draw on newly collected survey data reflecting Brazilian public opinion on salient issues.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jul 8

The 2nd article in Global Society 40(3) is "The US-Sino Tech War Through the Eyes of Secondary States: An Analysis of the Reactions of the US Five Eyes Allies to Huawei’s 5G" by Zeno Leoni (@ KCL) & Eugenio Lilli (@ucddublin.bsky.social). It's #OpenAccess, so do give it a read 👇

This paper contributes to the scholarly debate on secondary states’ agency in the context of US–China technological competition by examining how members of the Five Eyes (FVEY) intelligence alliance, excluding the United States, responded to perceived security risks posed by Huawei’s 5G infrastructure. While all FVEY states ultimately excluded Huawei from national networks, the pathways to this outcome diverged markedly, reflecting differences in threat perception, institutional processes, political priorities, and strategic cultures. Australia acted decisively, leveraging established mechanisms to implement a hardline stance; Canada and New Zealand proceeded cautiously, balancing domestic politics and trade concerns; and the United Kingdom initially resisted US pressure before reversing course amid domestic scrutiny. These variations show that alliance cohesion cannot be assumed, even among long-standing intelligence partners, and that convergence in policy outcomes does not imply convergence in underlying rationale, though all members ultimately reached a de facto similar outcome. The study underscores the limits of US influence over allied interpretations of asymmetric technological threats and highlights the critical role of secondary states in shaping technological geopolitics. By illuminating how liberal democracies navigate security, economic, and political imperatives in asymmetric competition, it provides insights into the challenges of multilateral coordination over emerging technologies.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jul 3

The first, #OpenAccess, article in Global Society 40(3) is "After Neoliberalism? Interregnum, Polycrisis and the Principle of Expansive Democratisation" is by Francesco Laruffa (University of Geneva) & Dieter Plehwe (@wzb.bsky.social). Click below to give it a read! #Neoliberalism #Democracy

In this paper, we contribute to the debate on the end of neoliberalism and on possible alternatives to the latter. We start by clarifying the relationship between neoliberalism, globalisation and the state as well as between neoliberalism, “populism”, and far-right conservatism. We argue that, despite important political-economic changes, we are still in an “interregnum”, whereby neoliberalism is increasingly challenged and dysfunctional but still dominant. Moreover, neoliberalism is mutating, as it is becoming mixed with stronger doses of nationalism and populist authoritarianism. However, the hegemonic crisis also opens the way to counterhegemonic projects. Building on Polanyi, we elaborate an analytical framework centred on the principle of expansive democratisation for distinguishing between political initiatives that aim to reinforce neoliberal hegemony and between reactionary and progressive counterhegemonic projects. We argue that building emancipatory alternatives to neoliberalism requires revitalising the critique of capitalism, fighting for global social-ecological justice.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jun 29

Our last monthly pick in June is the #OpenAccess article "Innovating Algorithmic Warfare: Experimentation with Information Manoeuvre beyond the Boundaries of the Law" by Lauren Gould (@ Utrecht), Marijn Hoijtink (@ Antwerp), Martine Jaarsma & Jack Davies (@ Utrecht). Link below!

This article analyses how algorithmic innovation in contemporary warfare unfolds through new alliances and contestations among civil and military actors in the face of an overarching rhetoric around the need to lead in “information manoeuvre”. Drawing on assemblage thinking and applying it to the case of the Land Information Manoeuvre Centre (LIMC)—a data centre founded by the Dutch Army that unlawfully tracked and algorithmically predicted its citizen’s sentiment and behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic—the authors identify three logics that held this centre together and helped ward off critique: entrepreneurialism, informality, and experimentation. Emulating innovation practices elsewhere, together, these logics have important political repercussions beyond the Dutch case, pushing the expansion of military surveillance, pattern-finding and targeting, while undermining the rule of law and democratic accountability within algorithmic warfare.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jun 23

New #OpenAccess and #OnlineFirst article out with Global Society! "Institutionalizing International Forums: The Increasing Role of G7 and G20 Engagement Groups" is by Niclas Hüttemann (Technische Universität Chemnitz). Be sure to click the link below and give it a read!

International Relations scholarship has long treated the G7 and G20 as arenas of executive bargaining, while paying far less attention to the societal actors operating around them. This article shifts the focus to the summits’ Engagement Groups (EGs) and asks whether these actors merely provide symbolic participation or actually shape summit outcomes. Using computer-assisted textual analysis, the paper systematically compares EG communiqués with final summit declarations in order to trace how societal demands travel into the language of global summitry. The findings show that EG influence is far from marginal. In numerous cases, summit declarations reproduce recommendations from EG statements directly, sometimes nearly verbatim. Business groups (B7/B20) are particularly successful in shaping language on trade, investment, and digital governance, while Labour, Civil Society, Women, Youth, and Parliamentary groups achieve more selective uptake. Over time, the incorporation of EG demands has intensified, culminating in cases such as the 2023 Delhi G20 Summit, where passages from the P20 communiqué appeared almost unchanged in the final declaration. The article argues that these developments point to a growing institutionalisation of societal participation within informal international organisations. At the same time, they raise broader questions about representation, co-optation, and whose voices ultimately become embedded in global governance.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jun 16

Our 3rd monthly pick for June, by Argyro Kartsonaki (@ifshhamburg.bsky.social) and @stefwolff.bsky.social (@unibirmingham.bsky.social), is the #OpenAccess article "The EU's Responses to Conflicts in its Wider Neighbourhood: Human or European Security?"! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The conflicts in the EU's wider neighbourhood, within and between the “neighbours’ neighbours”, have been on the EU's foreign and security policy agenda for some time and offer a useful set of cases to examine rival claims in the existing literature about the extent to which the EU's foreign and security policy is driven by human or European security imperatives. In order to understand how and why the EU has responded to these conflicts, we initially present an overview of all conflicts among and between the neighbours’ neighbours, broken down first by sub-region and then by conflict type. We then discuss the EU's responses to these conflicts and offer a comparative analysis, with a view to describing and explaining existing variation in terms of the EU's responses and their impact. We find that the Union's response is most in line with a human security approach in relation to those conflicts where it perceives to have the greatest interests at stake.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jun 12

Our 2nd, #OpenAccess, monthly pick is "When Ideologies Became Dangerous: An Analysis of the Transformation of the Relationship Between Security and Oppositional Ideologies in US Presidential Discourse" by Timo Kivimäki (@uniofbath.bsky.social) Do give it a read! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This article investigates, by means of computer-assisted qualitative and quantitative discourse analysis, how and when ideology was securitized in US presidential speech. It reveals how securitizing speech justifies methods and targets in the resistance of “dangerous ideologies” that are problematic for democracies. The analysis reveals that the entanglement of oppositional ideologies with security was articulated in the context of the War on Terror. While the original need to see ideologies as an existential threat was necessary to justify the exclusion of the ideologies of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein from the elections in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2004 and 2005 respectively, the securitization of ideologies then spread to issue areas beyond terror and to geographic contexts outside of these two countries, all the way to US domestic political competition. The need to avoid embarrassment in Iraq and Afghanistan may have thus affected US democracy.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jun 8

"(De)Weaponizing Climate-Induced Recruitment: Prospects of Climate Change Adaptation as a Non-Kinetic Counter-Terrorism Strategy in the Lake Chad Basin Region" is our 1st monthly pick for June. It's by Folahanmi Aina and @jayblux.bsky.social, and is #OpenAccess! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

To what extent can climate change adaptation be incorporated into counterterrorism strategies in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) region? As part of the Lake Chad region counterterrorism strategy, we explore how climate change adaptation can be used to prevent local population recruitment into violent extremism. Over the years, the Lake Chad Basin has been entangled with complex and multivariant challenges, such as climate threats, jihadist extremism, and intercommunal and religious conflicts. These variabilities have adversely affected people's livelihoods and security. This paper provides a complementary approach to counter-terrorism operations in the Lake Chad Basin region. We argue that local vulnerabilities create a favourable climate for jihadist extremist recruitment of vulnerable local populations. In response to climate change, it suggests adaptation measures as a non-kinetic counter-terrorism measure to help mitigate the recruitment of vulnerable populations into violent extremism. Non-kinetic adaptation measures, in a relative sense, employ a non-military approach to minimise the vulnerability and recruitment of the local population that has experienced climate-related shocks into jihadist enclaves. This approach, which has received little attention in the literature, can be integrated into counter-terrorism operations to prevent the recruitment of vulnerable communities whose livelihoods have been destroyed by climate fragility, violent extremism, and forced displacement nexus in the Lake Chad Basin. The paper concludes by advocating adequate mobilisation of resources to promote adaptation strategies and their implementation.

Global Society@globalsociety· Jun 3

New #OnlineFirst article out with Global Society! "International Hierarchies and the Politics of Abjection: Exclusion of Hamas from International Normative Order" is by Muharrem Doğan and Abdulgani Bozkurt (both RTEUniversite). Be sure to give it a read! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This paper examines Julia Kristeva's concept of abjection as a framework to understand the exclusion of Hamas from the international normative order. Kristeva's concept of abjection refers to the process through which an entity is constituted as threatening to the integrity and purity of the self and is consequently expelled from the boundaries of legitimate subjectivity. Drawing on this framework, the paper analyses how Hamas has been discursively constructed as an existential threat, thereby rendering it abject within the international normative order. This process of exclusion not only marginalises Hamas but also constrains broader forms of Palestinian agency. The analysis highlights two key consequences of abjection: the reproduction of exclusionary hierarchies within the international normative order and the denial of subjectivity to marginalised actors. By extending the concept of abjection to the study of international hierarchies and self/other dichotomy, the paper contributes to ongoing debates on exclusion, legitimacy, and the politics of recognition in International Relations.

Global Society@globalsociety· May 27

Our final monthly pick for May is the #OpenAccess article "Justifying Inequality as Equality: Germany and the Reform of Voting Weights in the Council of the European Union" by Dirk Peters (@prif.org). Be sure to give it a read! #Legitimacy #Inequality www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Weighted voting institutionalises inequality in international organisations. How is it possible that states accept rules that formally privilege some over others even though this contradicts the sovereign equality of states and norms of democratic decision-making? This contribution to a special issue about global stratification shows that arguments about equality can actually serve to justify inequality in international institutions. This can be seen in moves by the German government to justify its proposals for a reform of voting in the Council of the European Union (1995–2008). Successive German governments focused on arguments about democracy based on the equality of states and of citizens to justify their push for a more privileged position for Germany in the Council. Efficiency also figured as a justification but was clearly less prominent.

Global Society@globalsociety· May 21

New #OnlineFirst and #OpenAccess article out in Global Society! "Fear of the (Un)known: How to Think About Risk and Threat Cultures in Cyber Conflict" is by @monicakello.bsky.social (@warstudieskcl.bsky.social). Do give it a read! #Strategy #Culture #Technology www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Global Society@globalsociety· May 18

New #OpenAccess #OnlineFirst article out with Global Society! "The Politics of Loss in British Foreign Policy: From Slavery to Syria" is by Ben Soodavar (@warstudieskcl.bsky.social). Be sure to give it a read! #British #ForeignPolicy #Discourse www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This article examines how the discourse of loss shapes British foreign policy identity in the post-imperial era, particularly in the context of humanitarian intervention. While existing scholarship often focuses on status-seeking through ontological security and narrative approaches, this study conceptualises loss as a historically contingent and culturally embedded discourse. Through archaeological discourse analysis, the article shows how loss is constructed and mobilised within political rhetoric. The 2013 UK parliamentary debate on military intervention in Syria serves as a case study, revealing how political elites invoked national loss to legitimise action and preserve Britain’s moral standing. Drawing on Hansard archives, the article traces this discourse back to Britain’s nineteenth-century anti-slavery campaigns, showing how historical narratives of moral duty and international prestige continue to inform contemporary foreign policy. It argues that Britain’s identity as a global humanitarian actor is rooted in a legacy of religious guilt and the civilising mission, which frame inaction as a threat to national honour. By linking past and present through discourse, the article offers a novel empirical and methodological contribution to constructivist and historical literatures on British foreign policy, highlighting how loss operates as a powerful narrative mechanism in legitimising Britain’s global role.

Global Society@globalsociety· May 15

Our second monthly pick for May is the #OpenAccess article, "Global Citizenship: Towards a Concept for Participatory Environmental Protection" by Diego Hernández Guzmán and Judith Hernández García de Velazco (both Universidad de La Costa). Do give it a read! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The global environmental crisis demands urgent attention and comprehensive action. While governments must prioritise environmental protection and climate change mitigation, the continued depletion of natural resources calls for innovative approaches. One such approach is the Environmental Global Citizenship theory, which offers a perspective on participatory environmental governance while emphasising cultural diversity. The article argues that the idea of global environmental citizenship can help address the challenges associated to the global environmental crisis, outlining a vast theoretical framework to this notion, grounded in a thorough literature review and legal examination of global environmental agreements. Environmental Global Citizenship is presented as a critical, yet non-exclusive strategy for global environmental stewardship, simultaneously advocating for a model of global integration that is rooted in cultural diversity. The manuscript underscores that the concept of Environmental Global Citizenship should form one necessary aspect of a more extensive environmental protection global strategy.

Global Society@globalsociety· May 11

Our first monthly pick for May is the #OpenAccess article: "A Cosmopolitan Reading of Modern Monetary Theory" by @konstaamos.bsky.social (@helsinki.fi). Be sure to give it a read! #MMT #Democracy #Cosmopolitan www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The increasingly influential neochartalist Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) comes with a nation-state-centric framing of politics. The neochartalists argue that many alleged globalisation-related constraints on national economic policy are illusory or seriously overstated. In their view, monetarily sovereign states enjoy substantial autonomy over their fiscal and monetary policy decisions. The neochartalist diagnosis thus seems to undermine cosmopolitan calls for supranational forms of macroeconomic governance. However, this paper argues that if we pay serious attention to a range of subtler obstacles and strategic incentives that apply especially to small currency-issuing states, cosmopolitan aspirations remain well-motivated. Accordingly, the political implications of MMT are reexamined and a case for supranational exercise of monetary sovereignty is made. The paper goes on to demonstrate how the standard state-centric approach to currency privileges can prove counterproductive from the perspective of democratic governance. It is concluded that neochartalism and cosmopolitanism can fruitfully both correct and enrich each other.

Global Society@globalsociety· May 5

New #OnlineFirst article out in Global Society "Between Support and Critique: A Social Media Analysis of Public Discourse on Nonviolent Climate Sit-ins in Portugal" is by Daniel Santos and @raquelbdasilva.bsky.social. Do give it a read! #Activism #Portugal www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Climate activism has surged worldwide, with nonviolent sit-ins playing a central role in demanding urgent policy action. In Portugal, these protests have garnered significant attention, raising questions about social resistance and public perception. Drawing from Nonviolent Action Studies, we analyse how Portuguese climate sit-ins are signified and which factors shape vernacular narratives of support and backlash through social media analysis. Our findings highlight both well-studied elements such as perceptions of violence, and understudied factors including perceptions of legality and threats to everyday security. In Portugal’s highly polarised context, with effective state smart repression, these factors generally shape public opinion against climate resistance, with support increasing only when perceptions shift insecurity from protesters to state. This paper offers insight into how vernacular discourse makes sense of climate activism, situating Portuguese protests within global patterns. The study enriches understanding of contemporary climate resistance and support/backlash construction, providing implications for activists, policymakers, and scholars.

Global Society@globalsociety· Apr 30

New #OnlineFirst and #OpenAccess article in Global Society! "The Struggle for Wheat: The Weaponization of Trade Interdependence in the Russia-Ukraine War" is by @fparasecoli.bsky.social (NYU) and Mihai Varga (@freieuniversitaet.bsky.social). Do give it a read! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This article analyses how Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has weaponized global wheat interdependence and explores the applicability of the weaponized interdependence (WI) framework to substitutable agricultural commodities. It traces Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian Black Sea and Danube ports, the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and subsequent rerouting of Ukrainian exports through EU overland corridors, showing how these moves reshaped trade flows, sparked farmer protests in Central and Eastern Europe, and enabled Russia’s “grain diplomacy” in parts of the Global South. The article argues that wheat’s substitutability and the reconfigurability of export infrastructures make chokepoints and hubs more transitory, generating shifting dependencies rather than stable hierarchies. Building on process-tracing of trade disruptions, policy responses, and fieldwork with Ukrainian and EU-border farmers, the article suggests a typology of weaponization outcomes based on the substitutability of goods and infrastructures.

Global Society@globalsociety· Apr 29

The last article in Global Society 40(2) is "Future Impacts of Industry 4.0 on Labour Markets and Production Reshoring, Concentration and Sustainability: A Prospective Literature Review" by @gregoriobuzzelli.bsky.social and @francesconicoli.bsky.social. Enjoy! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This paper presents a semi-systematic review of the forward-looking literature that investigates the socio-economic consequences of Industry 4.0 innovations. We select three relevant technologies (Internet of Things, Additive Manufacturing, Generative AI) and four socio-economic challenges (green transition, labour transformation, production reshoring and concentration). Based on several contributions drawn both from social and engineering sciences, we present descriptive frameworks that outline future scenarios of the I4.0 transition, particularly singling out the mechanisms whereby this technological revolution can affect relevant socio-economic transformations, proposing an agenda for future empirical research.

Global Society@globalsociety· Apr 27

The fifth article in Global Society 40(2) is "“Anti-Intellectualism?” Situating Javier Milei’s Discourse About Science" by @valearvejita.bsky.social and @claudiocormick.bsky.social (both @CONICET). Be sure to give it a read! #Milei #Science #Neoliberalism www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The relationship between far-right and science has gained increasing scholarly attention, yet existing analyses often rely on broad labels such as “anti-scientific” or “anti-intellectual” without sufficient conceptual precision. This lack of precision, in turn, commonly leads to an inadequate analysis of the discourse of figures such as Argentine President Javier Milei. This article attempts to overcome this limitation by applying to Milei’s case a novel theoretical framework that distinguishes between two complementary dimensions of anti-science attitudes: an epistemological axis and an ethical–political axis. Empirically, the study draws on roughly 109 h of public statements produced by Milei between December 2023 and July 2025, analysed through a qualitative discourse approach inspired by grounded theory. The findings show that Milei selectively targets publicly funded intellectuals and institutions, framing them as corrupt, useless, or indoctrinating, while simultaneously praising market-oriented knowledge producers. Epistemologically, however, he does not reject science per se; instead, he frequently celebrates scientific progress and expert authority, except in specific cases such as climate change where his market fundamentalism overrides scientific consensus. We show that Milei’s discourse is better understood as a “war over science” – an attempt to appropriate science under neoliberal logics – rather than as wholesale anti-scientific rejection.

Global Society@globalsociety· Apr 24

The fourth article in Global Society 40(2) is "Who Controls the Digital Agora? Social Media Governance in the European Union, United States, and Turkey" is by Nuriye Çelik (Sinop Üniversitesi). Do give it a read! #EU #US #Turkey #SocialMedia www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This study explores how the European Union, the United States, and Turkey regulate social media in the face of disinformation, political polarisation, and the erosion of democratic norms. It argues that regulatory responses are not solely technical adjustments but reflect deeper ideological orientations, revealing whether states conceive the digital sphere as a deliberative public arena or as a domain to be governed through security and control logics. Using qualitative document analysis, the research examines 38 key policy and legal documents issued between 2016 and 2024. A thematic and comparative framework is employed across five dimensions: platform accountability, content governance, data privacy, enforcement mechanisms, and user rights. The analysis is informed by Habermas’s theory of the public sphere, Foucault’s concept of governmentality, and broader media governance scholarship. Findings indicate that the EU promotes a rights-based, deliberative model; the U.S. advances a market-oriented logic privileging platform autonomy, while Turkey exhibits a hybrid regime marked by formal pluralism and increasing state intervention. These divergent models not only reflect contrasting political cultures but also reveal how digital governance becomes a key site where state power, democratic values, and technological agency intersect.

Global Society@globalsociety· Apr 22

The third article in Global Society 40(2) is "Macro Determinants of Global Financial Inclusion: Evidence from World Data" by Peterson K. Ozili (@cenbank.bsky.social). Be sure to give it a read! #Growth #Finance #Investment t.co/cWoFy1Vwei

The study investigates the macro determinants of global financial inclusion using world data from 1999 to 2023 period. The data were analysed using the fully modified ordinary least squares regression estimator, the two-stage least squares regression estimator and the robust least squares regression estimator. The determinants examined are total domestic investment, macroeconomic management frameworks, international trade openness, total population size, consumer spending, and economic growth rate. The findings reveal that population size and trade openness have a positive effect on global financial inclusion through a higher financial inclusion index and commercial bank branch expansion. Total domestic investment and sound macroeconomic management have a negative effect on global financial inclusion through a decrease in the financial inclusion index and a reduction in the number of bank branches and the negative effect is more pronounced in the post-financial crisis years. However, total population size remain a positive determinant of global financial inclusion in the post-financial crisis years. Trade openness and consumer spending increase global financial inclusion during periods of economic prosperity while total domestic investment and sound macroeconomic management decrease global financial inclusion during periods of economic prosperity. In terms of forward-looking orientation, the study finds that a large population and weak macroeconomic management in the present period leads to financial inclusion gains in the future. It is recommended that policy adjustments in today’s population size and macroeconomic management frameworks can help to achieve future financial inclusion targets. The findings contribute to the financial inclusion literature by using world data to offer new insights into the factors that can accelerate global financial inclusion.

Global Society@globalsociety· Apr 20

A new #OnlineFirst article out in Global Society! "Reforming the World Bank from Within: Institutional Entrepreneurs and the Making of Participation as a Global Norm" is by Olivier Nay (@sorbonneparis1.bsky.social). Do give it a read! #entrepreneur #norm www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This article examines the institutionalisation of participation at the World Bank at the turn of the twenty-first century. Moving beyond accounts centered on transnational advocacy or organisational learning, it argues that bureaucratic politics shape norm change within international organisations (IOs). More specifically, it shows that reform-minded staff, acting as institutional entrepreneurs under hierarchical constraints, advanced normative change from within. Drawing on archival research and interviews, the article traces the process by which social scientists first introduced participatory ideas into the Bank’s policy debates and a second group of senior reformers later reframed them in ways compatible with the institution’s dominant economic rationalities. It also highlights the boundary-spanning alliances these insiders forged with NGOs and academics to secure legitimacy, mobilise expertise, and embed social development concerns within the Bank’s policy apparatus. The case demonstrates that norm institutionalisation in IOs depends not simply on external pressure or learning, but on knowledge struggles, coalition-building, and epistemic conversion through which contested ideas become institutionally acceptable.

Global Society@globalsociety· Apr 15

New #OnlineFirst article! "After Neoliberalism? Interregnum, Polycrisis and the Principle of Expansive Democratisation", by Francesco Laruffa (University of Geneva) & Dieter Plehwe (@wzb.bsky.social), is #OpenAccess. Do give it a read! #Neoliberalism #Democracy www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....