Angela Crack

Global communication and transnational public spheres

This book investigates the socio-political implications of ICT in a global governance framework. There is a growing journal of literature on the theme but a book is needed. It offers a good cross between virtual activism and Habermas.Information and communication technologies (ICT) enable citizens to communicate across state borders with greater ease than ever before, exciting much speculation about the emergence of transnational public spheres. This highly original work introduces this debate to International Relations.

Transcending Borders? Reassessing Public Spheres in a Networked World

The public sphere is a pivotal concept in democratic theory. Conventionally, it is framed in a local/national context. In the classic Habermasian formulation, the public sphere is predicated on national media, a sovereign state, and participatory citizenry. However, under conditions of globalisation, the nation-state paradigm is subject to increasingly significant challenges. The advent of the network society is also destabilising the institutional foundations of the national public. These developments necessitate a reassessment of the public sphere as a territorially delimited realm. A reconstruction of Habermasian theory reveals how global interconnections may be providing the structural preconditions for the emergence of transnational public spheres. The categories of flows are threefold: communicative networks, governance networks, and activist networks. In certain issue-areas, all three preconditions may coalesce to produce an environment suitable for the emergence of transnational public spheres. However, the potential for the realisation of ‘borderless’ public spheres is circumscribed by key factors. Global communication is systematically distorted, global governance is democratically deficient, and the norms of critical publicity are difficult to sustain amongst highly differentiated virtual audiences. Unless these issues are addressed, the early promise of transnational networks as an emancipatory force will be neutralised. La esfera pública es un concepto esencial en la teoría democrática. Convencionalmente, se ha conceptualizado tanto en un contexto local como nacional. En la clásica formulación habermasiana, la esfera pública se predica a través de los medios nacionales, un estado soberano y una ciudadanía participante. Sin embargo, bajo las condiciones de la globalización, el paradigma de nación-estado está sometido a retos significativos que van en aumento. La entrada de la sociedad en red está desestabilizando también las bases institucionales del público nacional. Estos desarrollos necesitan un replanteamiento de la esfera pública como un dominio territorialmente delimitado. Una reconstrucción de la teoría habermasiana revela cómo las interconexiones globales pueden proveer las precondiciones estructurales para el surgimiento de esferas públicas transnacionales. Las categorías de las corrientes se dividen en tres: redes comunicativas, redes gubernamentales y redes de activistas. En ciertas áreas con problemas, todas las tres precondiciones tienen que fundirse para producir un ambiente adecuado para el establecimiento de las esferas públicas transnacionales. Sin embargo, el potencial para la realización de las esferas públicas ‘sin fronteras’ se circunscribe por factores claves. La comunicación global es distorsionada sistemáticamente, la autoridad global es democráticamente deficiente y las normas de la publicidad crítica son difíciles de sostener entre audiencias virtuales altamente diferenciadas. A menos que se resuelvan estos problemas, la promesa inicial de las redes globales como una fuerza liberalizadora, será neutralizada.

Language, listening and learning: critically reflective accountability for INGOs

This article examines the emergence of two waves of reforms across the international non-government organization (INGO) sector in accountability discourse and practice. The first wave accountability model was narrowly framed around the demands of powerful stakeholders such as donors and governments, whereas the second wave was a more holistic approach that prioritized the obligations of INGOs towards their ‘beneficiaries’. It is argued that INGOs should embed critically reflective accountability by pursuing further reforms in three thematic areas. First, words such as ‘beneficiary’ should be expunged from the language of accountability, since it is encoded with norms that implicitly undermine the rights of people and communities to expect that INGOs should be answerable for their actions. Second, listening to marginalized stakeholders should be facilitated by inclusive discursive arenas that enable and empower people ‘to speak and be heard’. Lastly, INGOs need to use feedback to become a learning organization, and collaborate with peers to engender a culture of reflective learning across the sector. Points for practitioners The article offers several policy recommendations structured around three core themes. These include suggestions for the training of field staff, issues concerning the design of participatory exercises, and proposals for a strengthened regime of peer-regulation.