Abstract
By theoretically fusing the social construction and agenda setting approaches, this ambitious and original work, edited by Erik Neveu and Muriel Surdez, develops a new perspective on globalization. Building on the study of institutions, elites and social problems (Mazur, 2007), its goal is to explore how issues are globalized through the ‘cross-border actions of claims-makers’ (p. 3). The political sociology of the ‘globalization’ of problems, which this volume furthers, unfolds as three closely interlinked explorations: (a) what can be defined sociologically as a ‘social problem’?; (b) who are the actors, institutions, processes and trajectories that give problems global prominence?; and, finally, (c) how exactly does the multi-levelled dimension work? The volume does all this from a ‘fractured globality’ perspective that focuses on the uneven national/transnational construction and impact of globalized issues.
Analytically, the chapters deal with three types of flows: the material flows of individuals, groups and capital; the flows of various claims-makers and solution finders; and at the most abstract and elusive level, the flows of cognitive and symbolic forms that could include narratives, data, figures, categories and policy frames (cf. Neveu, 2017 for further development; also Kauppi, 2018). The paradox of global claims is that they are never fully global, but also national, as claims-makers and solutions offered are often national, opening the door to analysis of the interaction of national and transnational processes and the construction of new global power resources.
The empirical chapters deal with a variety of social problems ranging from environmental and health issues to agricultural policy. The first part of the book – ‘Globalization of Issues and Problems: Frameworks Revisited’ – delves into the complexities of the theoretical frameworks used in the study of globalization of issues and problems. In the first chapter, Elitza Katzarova and Erik Neveu discuss the relatively weak impact of work in international relations on the study of social problems, highlighting the existence of disciplinary silos hindering fruitful cooperation. Through the case of hepatitis B, Maëlle de Seze examines some of the paradoxes in the construction of global health problems. Christoffer Green-Pedersen approaches these questions from a more political science perspective, underlining the links between party politics and issue competition. From yet another perspective, that of sociological field theory, Jérémie Nollet explores the impact of the media on French mad cow disease policy.
The contributions in the book’s second part seek to map the actors and the social logics of issues’ globalization. Valerie Arnold explores another side of globalization, the renationalization of global issues in France and Japan, and the role of international cooperation on claims-making, while Franca Roncarolo and Sara Bentivegna discuss the circulation of issues and European public policy agendas. A particularly topical issue is that of digitalization, its social carriers and impact on global public policies. In his chapter, Timothy Neff problematizes the struggles relating to climate change that take place on social media, and more specifically on Twitter.
The third part of the book – ‘Arenas and Venues: Bringing Scales, Frames and Temporalities Back In’ – opens with a contribution from Stève Bernardin and Emmanuel Henry on some of the mechanisms of the transnationalization of issues in the areas of occupational health and traffic safety policies. In her chapter, Muriel Surdez delves into the interaction between national and transnational processes of issue formation with the example of ‘antibiotic resistance’ in Switzerland. Thomas Artmann Kristensen explores the interaction between international indicators such as the Pisa rankings and inter-party competition in Denmark, while Matthieu Ansaloni analyses from a structural perspective the circulation of policy, specifically, UK’s New Labour agricultural policy in the European context. The following two chapters deal with the environment. Stefan Aykut examines in what sense global climate change is a global issue and what dynamics make it global. For her part, Armèle Cloteau explores how European lobbyists frame global environmental problems. The last chapter by Daniel Hallin discusses the links between the transnationalization of media and the globalization of social problems.
This volume is a stimulating contribution to the study of globalization that innovates both theoretically and empirically. By focusing on the process of globalizing issues, it provides an alternative interpretation of the drivers of globalization. It successfully brings together international relations, political science and sociology, which is no small feat. Understanding the complexities of globalization requires further ‘decompartmentalizing’ social science research by creating cross-disciplinary research topics. Through fruitful empirical studies of issues of enormous complexity and importance, this volume reveals some of the underlying mechanisms of the construction of globalizing issues. As the studies in this book demonstrate, transformations have to do with the types of claims-makers involved and the extent to which they are linked to supranational chains of interdependencies, for instance in the area of climate change or public health. Global circulation might transform some social problems into technical problems through the activities of powerful epistemic communities, or they might convert them into economic or legal issues because of the interests of the stakeholders in question. These are some of the limits to globalizing processes. An area that needs further scrutiny are the ‘technical’ aspects of claims-making that increasingly rely on data and data tools. By whom are these produced and in view of what goals?
A line of further scrutiny could deal with issue origin, as it might be more likely that an issue becomes a global problem if it originates in the global North instead of the global South. A clearer separation of European regulatory power and global framings might also be needed to further disentangle the transnationalization of social problems. This book and its valuable insights call for further studies from scholars all over the world to study how ‘problems’ are put on media and political agendas and how they are universalized to become global issues.