"Lost" Causes: Agenda Vetting in Global Issue Networks and the Shaping of Human Security

by Charli Carpenter

Overview

Why do some issues and threats—diseases, weapons, human rights abuses, vulnerable populations—get more global policy attention than others? How do global activist networks decide the particular causes for which they advocate among the many problems in need of solutions? According to Charli Carpenter, the answer lies in the politics of global issue networks themselves. Building on surveys, focus groups, and analyses of issue network websites, Carpenter concludes that network access has a direct relation to influence over how issues are ranked. Advocacy elites in nongovernmental and transnational organizations judge candidate issues not just on their merit but on how the issues connect to specific organizations, individuals, and even other issues.

In "Lost" Causes, Carpenter uses three case studies of emerging campaigns to show these dynamics at work: banning infant male circumcision; compensating the wartime killing and maiming of civilians; and prohibiting the deployment of fully autonomous weapons (so-called killer robots). The fate of each of these campaigns was determined not just by the persistence and hard work of entrepreneurs but by advocacy elites' perception of the issues' network ties. Combining sweeping analytical argument with compelling narrative, Carpenter reveals how the global human security agenda is determined.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801448850
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	06/24/2014
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Charli Carpenter is Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Innocent Women and Children: Gender, Norms, and the Protection of Civilians and Forgetting Children Born of War: Setting the Human Rights Agenda in Bosnia and Beyond.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

List of Acronyms xv

1 Agenda Vetting and Agenda Setting in Global Governance 1

2 Networks, Centrality, and Global Issue Creation 19

3 A Network Theory of Advocacy "Gatekeeper" Decision Making 38

4 "You Harm, You Help": Pitching Collateral Damage Control to Human Security Gatekeepers 55

5 From "Stop the Robot Wars!" to "Ban Killer Robots": Pitching "Autonomous Weapons" to Humanitarian Disarmament Elites 88

6 "His Body, His Choice": Pitching Infant Male Circumcision to Health and Human Rights Gatekeepers 122

Conclusion 148

Appendix 155

Notes 179

References 207

Index 221

What People are Saying About This

Richard Price

In 'Lost' Causes Charli Carpenter fruitfully extends the research agenda on international norms and transnational activist networks in an original way. Carpenter's case studies are valuable in and of themselves as research on cutting-edge issues of contemporary interest, but they also substantiate her own agenda-setting theoretical contributions on which issues make it onto the agendas of global activists.

Wendy H. Wong

Charli Carpenter has hit on an important issue that is critical to understanding the work of influential activists, and she offers wide-ranging and solid evidence for a sophisticated and much-needed theory. 'Lost' Causes satisfies both normative desires to make the world a better place and the need for analytical rigor that social science emphasizes. This book is hard-hitting with heart.

Susan K. Sell

'Lost' Causes is a compelling and original analysis of transnational advocacy campaigns. Charli Carpenter offers a dynamic analysis of change over time in advocates' framing strategies, power relations, quest for advocacy partners, and outcomes. I highly recommend this fascinating and important contribution to scholarship on governance and networks.

Roland Paris

This book provides a wonderfully clear and compelling answer to an important question: Why do some issues, and not others, become the focus of transnational activism? It should be read by international relations scholars interested in agenda setting, activist networks, human security and global governance, and by policy practitioners who are contemplating campaigns of their own.

Editorial Reviews

Like all valuable books do, Lost Causes leaves us with many ideas to think about.... Carpenter has opened doors for new thinking on these and other research questions and on creative ways to marshal evidence that can answer them.

Wayne Sandholtz

"This book provides a wonderfully clear and compelling answer to an important question: Why do some issues, and not others, become the focus of transnational activism? It should be read by international relations scholars interested in agenda setting, activist networks, human security and global governance, and by policy practitioners who are contemplating campaigns of their own."

Roland Paris

"In 'Lost' Causes Charli Carpenter fruitfully extends the research agenda on international norms and transnational activist networks in an original way. Carpenter’s case studies are valuable in and of themselves as research on cutting-edge issues of contemporary interest, but they also substantiate her own agenda-setting theoretical contributions on which issues make it onto the agendas of global activists."

Richard Price

"Charli Carpenter has hit on an important issue that is critical to understanding the work of influential activists, and she offers wide-ranging and solid evidence for a sophisticated and much-needed theory. 'Lost' Causes satisfies both normative desires to make the world a better place and the need for analytical rigor that social science emphasizes. This book is hard-hitting with heart."

Wendy H. Wong

"'Lost' Causes is a compelling and original analysis of transnational advocacy campaigns. Charli Carpenter offers a dynamic analysis of change over time in advocates' framing strategies, power relations, quest for advocacy partners, and outcomes. I highly recommend this fascinating and important contribution to scholarship on governance and networks."

Susan K. Sell

"Like all valuable books do, "Lost" Causes leaves us with many ideas to think about. . . . Carpenter has opened doors for new thinking on these and other research questions and on creative ways to marshal evidence that can answer them."—Wayne Sandholtz, Political Science Quarterly (Summer 2015)

"In 'Lost' Causes Charli Carpenter fruitfully extends the research agenda on international norms and transnational activist networks in an original way. Carpenter’s case studies are valuable in and of themselves as research on cutting-edge issues of contemporary interest, but they also substantiate her own agenda-setting theoretical contributions on which issues make it on to the agendas of global activists."—Richard Price, University of British Columbia, author of The Chemical Weapons Taboo

"This book provides a wonderfully clear and compelling answer to an important question: Why do some issues, and not others, become the focus of transnational activism? It should be read by international relations scholars interested in agenda setting, activist networks, human security and global governance, and by policy practitioners who are contemplating campaigns of their own."—Roland Paris, University of Ottawa

"'Lost' Causes is a compelling and original analysis of transnational advocacy campaigns. Charli Carpenter offers a dynamic analysis of change over time in advocates' framing strategies, power relations, quest for advocacy partners, and outcomes. I highly recommend this fascinating and important contribution to scholarship on governance and networks."—Susan K. Sell, George Washington University

"Charli Carpenter has hit on an important issue that is critical to understanding the work of influential activists, and she offers wide-ranging and solid evidence for a sophisticated and much-needed theory. 'Lost' Causes satisfies both normative desires to make the world a better place and the need for analytical rigor that social science emphasizes. This book is hard-hitting with heart."—Wendy H. Wong, University of Toronto

From the Publisher